The Return
by Merisida
Summary: She's finally found her path in her home world. Too bad someone's about to turn that world right upside down. An old enemy is rising... Sequel to Found.
1. Home

**THE RETURN**

**Disclaimer: **All Btvs and HP characters belong to their respective owners and as always I'm not making any profit from this fic. The character 'Mr. Silverthorn' is my only creation and the only character I can take credit for.

**A/N:** Welcome back to everyone who's been waiting for this, I must say I'm pretty excited about this story and I can't wait to get it out here.  
This is, of course, the sequel to my other story, 'Found' so I would recommend reading that first if you haven't already done so. You can find it here: s/8193936/1/Found if you need to. This chapter is short, but I think it introduces the story nicely, enjoy! :)

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**Chapter 1: Home**

Buffy shook her head as she flipped through the Daily Prophet, one page at a time. It seemed as though the whole world had gone crazy.

Page after page there were reports of people attacking and hurting others, people getting into arguments over nothing, and most disturbing of the lot, reports of the various dark mark sightings.

It had first started at the Quidditch World Cup, where a group of deatheaters had crashed the party. Since that day, there had been a string of other incidents.

"So, what's going on in the world today?" Remus asked as he walked past her in the living room. She was laying on the couch on her stomach, her knees bent and ankles crossed, the newspaper sitting in front of her.

"Same old." She sighed as she flipped to the next page, her eyes lighting up at the article. "Oh, this one isn't all bad. You know that ministry worker who went missing a couple of weeks ago? He's been found alive and well."

"Oh, you mean Ray Silverthorn?"

"Yeah, apparently he just decided to take a vacation one day and didn't bother to tell anyone, not even his boss..."

She watched as Remus' face scrunched up in confusion, "Really? That sounds a bit odd. I remember Ray from school, he was always a very cautious boy. It doesn't sound at all like him to just up and leave without telling anyone."

"Well, I hate to break it to you, Remmy, but people change." She replied as she sat up and folded the paper. She eyed her brother with one eyebrow raised, watching as he gathered some objects into a bag. "What are you up to?"

"Sirius asked me to help him with that portrait again. He's desperate to get rid of it."

"Yeah so am I and I don't even live here on a permanent basis. I know she's his mother and all, but that woman is driving me insane."

"You and me both, Izzy." Sirius said as he and Harry walked into the room. "Be grateful you didn't have to live with her when she was alive." The look he gave her was enough to make both her and Harry chuckle.

As Sirius and Remus went down the hall Harry stepped up to the couch and sat down with Buffy. "You know I think this is the first time I have ever been sad to go back to Hogwarts."

"Huh? Why would you be sad, I thought you loved it there..?"

He nodded quickly, "I do. But going to Hogwarts means I have to leave you all behind. I have to leave here after I've just found you all."

She grinned as she put her arm around his shoulders and pulled him back so that they were both flat against the back of the couch. "Oh, you won't miss me, I'm sure of it."

"Of course I will."

"Not if I give you extra homework..."

He turned to look at her with a mixture of annoyance and astonishment on his face. "You... You're teaching this year?"

She nodded, "You're looking at your new DADA professor, thank you very much. Oh, but don't tell anyone, it's supposed to be a surprise."

"That's great news! I only wish both you and Remus could go. And Sirius, of course."

He was suddenly interrupted by a loud and very annoying screeching sound that echoed through the house, followed by Sirius and Remus' yells for the portrait to stop making the awful noise.

Harry and Buffy looked to each other with identical looks before they both burst out laughing.


	2. Back to School

**THE RETURN**

**Disclaimer:** All Btvs and HP characters belong to their respective owners and as always I'm not making any profit from this fic.

**A/N:** I'll warn you now, the next few chapters will mostly be all talk and no action, but there's plenty of drama coming up after that :). Thank you to my readers and reviewers, I'm glad that there's still people wanting to hear more in this series.

Chapter 2: Back to School

Buffy checked her watch as she ran through the halls of the school. She'd been so busy reading up about different teaching techniques that she had completely forgotten about the time. And right now, the start of year feast was already taking place... Without her.

'What a great start to the year,' she thought, irritated at herself for being late on her first day.

Finally she rounded the last corner and stepped up the doors of the Great Hall. She could already hear the clapping of students and the voice of Professor McGonagall as she called out the first years' names.

Pulling the doors open she noticed how every head swivelled into her direction and she smiled nervously. "Uh, sorry I'm late."

The students were muttering amongst themselves as she walked up the main aisle and towards the teachers table, sending Harry and his friends a wave as she passed.

Headmaster Dumbledore was grinning at her as she ducked into her seat besides Severus Snape.

Professor McGonagall cleared her throat and began reading the names from her list once again, and the sorting ceremony continued as if no one had interrupted.

Buffy looked down the length of the teachers table, smiling at the other teachers who waved or greeted her. She knew almost all of them already, either from her own days at the school or from the year before. When she looked to the potions teacher he glared at her before turning his gaze back to the students in front of them.

Finally the last name was called and a young boy climbed up to the Hufflepuff table, cheered on by the rest of the house.

Dumbledore stood from his seat and walked up to the podium at the front, and everyone went silent. "So, now that you're all sitting comfortably, I have a few notices.

"Firstly, most of you might have noticed already, but we have a new member of staff this year. Professor Summers will be taking Defence Against the Dark Arts classes so let's all wish her good luck for the year." The students clapped, or at least the students that knew of her clapped.

"Mr Filch, the caretaker has asked me to tell you that the list of objects forbidden inside the castle this year has been extended. The full list comprises some four hundred and thirty seven items, and can be viewed in Mr. Filch's office, if anyone would like to check it."

Buffy chuckled to herself at the amount of students who rolled their eyes or groaned.

"As always, I would like to remind you that the forest grounds are forbidden to all students. It is also my painful duty to inform you that the inter-house Quidditch cup will not take place this year." Ignoring the outraged students, he continued on.

"This is due to an event that will be starting in October and lasting the rest of the school year. I have great pleasure in announcing that this year Hogwarts will be hosting the Triwizard Tournament!"

The hall erupted into cheers and loud shouts of astonishment from the students who knew what the tournament was. Confused looks filled the faces of those that had no idea what they were talking about. The teachers themselves all looked rather happy, they had all been informed about the situation earlier. Buffy was looking forward to the games herself, she still remembered learning about it back during her own school days.

"The Triwizard tournament was first established some seven hundred years ago as a friendly competition between the three largest European schools of wizardry: Hogwarts, Beauxbatons Academy and the Durmstrang Institute. A champion is selected to represent each school, and they must complete three magical tasks in order to gain points and win the Triwizard cup, as well as a thousand galleons in personal prize money. The heads of Beauxbatons and Durmstrang will be arriving with their short-listed contenders in October, and the champions selection will take place at Halloween. There will be more news regarding the tournament closer to the time."

When the excitement had mostly all died down, he grinned at the students, "Now, I know you all must be hungry. So let the feast begin!"

The tables were suddenly filled with plates of food and the students wasted no time before they dug in.

The following morning the students all got back to their daily lessons and Buffy set about her task of getting the classroom ready for her first day of teaching.

Even though she had taught before she had never been alone in the classroom, and she was surprised at just how nervous she felt. Luckily her first lesson for the day was the fourth years, most of whom she had taught the previous year, and of course having Harry, Ron and Hermione in the class helped to put her at ease a little.

When everything was set she eagerly awaited the chime of the clock, which was followed by the many students filing into the room. She noticed Harry and his friends as they took seats in the middle of the room, their smiling faces showing their encouragement.

"All right, everyone." She called as the students all sat and looked up at her expectantly, "If you don't already know, I'm Professor Summers but I'd like for you all to just call me Buffy while we're in this class. Professor makes me sound way too old." The students laughed as she screwed up her face in disgust.

She grabbed up a pile of books from her desk and began handing them out to the students, "These are your textbooks for the year, we'll be using them in most classes so make sure you bring them with you unless I say not to. There are going to be some more practical lessons where I will be teaching you defensive spells as well as hand to hand defensive techniques, but I will let you know about those before hand."

Half of the students were flicking through their books and she noticed how almost all of them looked excited at the 'practical' lessons. It was something her and Dumbledore had come up with, since the students had never had any actual practice with their spells or any defensive moves. And that was something Buffy wanted to change.

"Practical lessons?" Her eyes shot to the blonde haired Slytherin student who was sat at the back of the room looking amused. "We've never needed practical lessons before, our teachers actually trusted us to get our spells right. And we're wizards, we don't need to know how to fight with our hands." He laughed at the idea, and the other Slytherin students joined in. Some of the Gryffindors seemed intrigued as if they agreed but didn't want to be seen nodding along with a Slytherin.

She smiled sweetly at him, instantly knowing who he was and that he was going to be a trouble maker. He reminded her way too much of Spike. "Oh, you don't? And just what would you do if someone took your wand away from you, hmm?"

He laughed again, "No one would be able t-"

Before he could finish his sentence she wordlessly made his wand fly from his hand and into hers. It happened so quickly that it took him a moment to register that it had gone from his hand. With a grin she turned his own wand on him, pointing it at his head.

"If I were your enemy, you would be dead by now, Mr. Malfoy. Remember that the next time you underestimate someone."

She threw the wand back to him and turned to address the rest of the class. "Right, let's get on with today's lesson."


	3. Practical Lessons

**THE RETURN**

**Disclaimer:** All Btvs and HP characters belong to their respective owners and as always I'm not making any profit from this fic.

Chapter 3: Practical Lessons

"How are you getting on?" Remus asked as he sat in his sisters classroom, watching as she dragged the tables to the edge of the room.

"Almost done. No thanks to you two."

"I meant the teaching." He replied, "And I did help... I moved the desk out of the way."

"Oh yay for you, whatever would I do without you!" She mocked as she stood and brushed off her jeans and observed the room. Without the tables in the middle there was now a big enough space for practical lesson to take place.

"And what about him, huh?" She said gesturing over to Sirius who was far too busy looking through the various books on her bookshelf to hear anything the siblings had said.

"It's his first time back in the school, other than being in the dungeons, I mean. Besides who can blame him, I don't think either of us were expecting that many books on your bookshelf." He laughed as she pouted, "You're turning into me in your old age."

"I so am not! And I'm not old..."

Remus replied with a laugh and a shrug, "So, how has it been?"

"It's been good actually." She said with a smile, "I was so nervous that first day but now it's like I never left. I still can't believe I'm doing this."

He nodded, knowing all too well how it felt. He had been through it all before himself. "You seem to be doing a good job, and these practical lessons sound like a good idea. The students could really use some time to practice what they have learned."

"That's what I thought." Buffy replied as she magically transfigured some training dummies into the area before she began placing them around the room.

Just then they heard a quiet knock on the door before Harry peered around the corner. He broke out into a huge grin when he saw who was inside. "Sirius! Remus! What are you doing here?"

"We came to see how you and Izzy were getting on." Sirius said as he hugged Harry. "How's your first couple of weeks been?"

"Brilliant. Well, apart from Snape giving me extra homework and Professor Trelawney predicting my death again..."

Remus laughed, missing the look of surprise on his sister's face. "I wouldn't worry about that Harry. She done the same for me and Buffy when we were younger. If I remember correctly she predicted that I would be struck by lightning..."

He finally noticed the look on Buffy's face and cleared his throat, she looked like she had seen a ghost. "So, what do you think of your new DADA teacher?" He asked quickly, trying to change the subject.

Harry grinned, "Oh Buffy's been amazing! I've learned so much already and it's only been a few weeks since the year started. We all miss you too though." He added as a side note.

Remus laughed but his thoughts were elsewhere.

"Has there been any more news about the Triwizard tournament?" Sirius asked.

"No, the other schools are arriving within the next couple of weeks but Professor Dumbledore won't tell us anything until they arrive." Harry said, sounding disappointed but excited at the same time.

While Sirius and Harry talked about the tournament Remus pulled Buffy aside, "Are you okay?"

"Yeah, I just..." She trailed off while watching Harry across the room. Her eyes then turned up to her brother. "It's just that whole death prediction thing. I never understood what Professor Trelawney meant when she told me mine... But I do now. She was talking about the Master, that I was going to die at his hands. She got it right."

Remus' hand fell on her shoulder, "I know what you're thinking, Buffy. Just because she was right that one time doesn't mean she always is. Harry will be fine."

"Hm, I know he will. But still, if she was right about me and she was right about Peter... What else has she been right about?"

The clock chiming caught all of their attention and Buffy jumped up. "You guys better go, the students will be on their way here now."

"Right," Remus sighed as he hugged his sister goodbye, "have a good lesson. We'll see you again soon. Bye, Harry." Remus was replaced by Sirius who hugged them both goodbye before the pair left, disappearing through her office door where the fireplace was kept.

Moments later the doors swung open and a crowd of eager students rammed into the room, all of them wearing loose fitting jogging pants and jumpers, just like she had told them to.

"Come on in, everyone." Once they were all seated on the floor she split them into groups, ignoring their grumblings when she purposefully put two Slytherins and two Gryffindors in each group.

"Okay, we're going to practice the disarming spell I taught you last time, and then we're going to move on to some real defensive moves. I want you to try the spell out in your groups."

The students all rose to their feet and faced their friends. The room was suddenly filled with shouts of _'Expelliarmus!'_ as they practiced the spell against each other while Buffy walked through the room, correcting and advising them on how to improve their spell.

Everything was going fine until Buffy noticed the small smirk on Draco's face. Instantly she knew he was up to something.

Seconds later, just as Harry raised his wand to disarm Ron, Draco's arm shot out. Harry's wand flew from the air and he looked around, confused until he saw Draco grinning at him from across the room.

"Draco..." Buffy said in a threatening tone, "You're meant to be practising in your groups, not firing spells across the classroom."

He shrugged in reply before turning back to his group and Buffy rolled her eyes in annoyance.

Once she felt that all the students had mastered the spell or at least had enough tries to get the hang of it, she got them to practice some real defensive moves. She pulled up one group at a time and showed each student how to block and counter a basic attack before she set them against one another. Once they had successfully blocked a few hits she swapped to the next group and started over again.

She was so busy helping Neville, who was having trouble getting his arms up quick enough to block, that she didn't even hear the commotion taking place behind her.

It wasn't until Hermione cried out that Buffy turned and saw what was happening. Harry and Draco were arguing together while the rest of the students stood back and watched. Before she could stop them the pair had lunged forward and both were trying to attack the other.

With a long sigh Buffy walked over to them and grabbed each of them by the wrist, stopping either of them from landing any hits, their wide eyes turned to her in shock as they registered the strength behind her grip.

"There's no fighting in my class unless I tell you to fight, do you understand?"

They both nodded mutely so she continued on. "Now would one of you explain why you felt the need to start throwing punches in my lesson?"

"He started it!"

"He was saying things about Herm-"

"I didn't say anything other than the truth."

Buffy groaned as Harry struggled in her grasp. "Quit it, will you? No matter what the reason was you shouldn't have resorted to fighting. I might be teaching you how to fight but that doesn't mean you can go around using this stuff to attack people! Learning this is in your best interests, but if you keep this up then I will have to stop these practical lessons and you can go back to copying text from a book. I might have expected this from first years but I thought you two were better than that." She dropped their arms as she took in the guilty look on Harry's face. At least she had gotten through to one of them.

"I want you both back here tonight for detention. Don't be late." She stepped away, ignoring the protests coming from Draco. "Back to work everyone. Let's see how those moves are coming along."


	4. The Test

**THE RETURN**

**Disclaimer:** All Btvs and HP characters belong to their respective owners and as always I'm not making any profit from this fic.

**A/N:** Since this chapter is pretty short I've decided to upload it a bit earlier than I'd planned. It has absolutely nothing to do with The Goblet Of Fire, but it was just way too fun an idea to ignore. Thank you to all my readers and reviewers :)

Chapter 4: The Test

Harry sighed as he walked through the corridors towards the DADA classroom for his detention.

He couldn't believe that Buffy had given him detention when it had been Draco who had started the fight during her lesson. He was the one who called Hermione a mudblood, he was the one who threw the first punch. Why did Harry have to go back there?

He stepped inside the room and spotted Buffy sitting at the desk, she looked tired and slightly annoyed so he quickly took a seat at his usual desk. Draco had yet to arrive.

He watched as Buffy scribbled away on a piece of parchment and he sighed again. Either she hadn't heard him enter or she was giving him the silent treatment.

Suddenly he felt rather guilty for acting like he had in her class. She was trying to help all of them after all, by letting them learn new ways to defend themselves. He and Draco may have just ruined that.

"Buffy..." He watched as her eyes lifted up to him, noticing how she didn't appear surprised to see him there. So she had just been ignoring him...

"I'm really sorry for earlier. I just... I hate it when he calls my friends names, I just lost it."

The corner of her lips lifted as she sat back in her seat, "I know, Harry. And I know all too well how infuriating it can be to watch people bully your friends, trust me I was just the same back at school. But you can't sort everything with fists, you know?"

She ignored the voice in the back of her head that screamed out at her. _'Hypocrite!'_

"Yeah... Though, to be honest I don't know why you asked me to come here. I've learned my lesson, I won't be causing any more fights anytime soon."

She smiled at him then, her eyes shining with something he couldn't place. And then he realised, it was the same look he had seen on Dumbledore's face when he had told them about the Tournament. It was a look that said 'I know something that you don't'.

His eyes narrowed at the gleam in her eyes. She was up to something and from the looks of it, he wasn't going to like it much.

"What are we doing for detention? Cleaning trophies? Writing lines?"

She laughed, "Nope, nothing like that. I'm going to teach you something important. Besides how to punch properly, that is. That right hook of yours was so sloppy."

Just then Draco stepped into the room and Buffy rose from her seat. "Great, everyone is here. Let's get this party started then, shall we?"

The two followed her as she led them out the door and through the darkened corridors, stepping into a part of the castle which Harry hardly ever passed by. She told the pair to stand still as she looked up upon a blank wall, ignoring the confused and annoyed boys behind her.

She walked up and down the corridor, pacing back and forwards several times, knowing that she was getting strange looks from the students as she did so. As she walked the final length she stopped to look upon the wall once more, smiling to herself when a door appeared.

"Wha?"

"How did that..?"

Once the door appeared fully she gripped the handle and pushed, walking into the Room of Requirement with a grin on her face. Inside it looked just as she had imagined.

"Welcome to the room of requirement, boys."

Harry and Draco followed her inside and looked around in awe of the massive room that had just materialised from out of nowhere. The room was lit by hundreds of candles placed in various places, in the middle was a huge fireplace, a fire already burning and adding some heat to the otherwise cold room.

Dotted around the room were many different stations, each with a different obstacle. One was simply a crash mat laying on the ground where another was two large pedestals opposite each other, a deep pool of water underneath. It looked like an assault course of some kind.

Harry was amazed, but he couldn't help but think that this looked more like fun than a punishment. He turned to Buffy and waited patiently as she looked around the room.

When she was satisfied she turned back to them with a smile and that same gleam in her eyes. "I've brought you here to teach you a valuable lesson, one that you might find useful in the future. In order to fight properly you have to be able to trust in your allies."

Harry felt his mood rapidly deteriorate as she continued on.

"You two need to learn to trust in each other in order to complete the course here," She gestured behind her to the obstacles. "You can't get past them on your own, so you will need to work as a team, to help each other get through it. On the battlefield, trust is your most important weapon. Now get to work."

Harry and Draco looked at each other and groaned, ignoring the cat-like grin on their teacher's face.

Buffy watched as they started on the first station, where they had to build a bridge between the two pedestals, or risk falling into the water below. She stood back and let them get on with it, they wouldn't understand her lesson if she was constantly getting in their way.

* * *

By the end of the night Buffy was happy enough to give the boys some well earned hot chocolate before sending them off to bed. She laughed as they argued on their way out, but she still couldn't help but smile.

Neither of them would admit to it, but they had made a good team. They might have started out badly, but eventually they had come to rely on each others strengths in order to get past the obstacles. At one point Draco had even saved Harry from falling off one of the beams.

She knew she hadn't made a big change in them, they would never be friends and she understood that, but hopefully they wouldn't be quite as eager to throw punches at one another anymore. And if they did, at least she had some good blackmail material.


	5. The Goblet of Fire

**THE RETURN**

**Disclaimer:** All Btvs and HP characters belong to their respective owners and as always I'm not making any profit from this fic.

Chapter 5: The Goblet of Fire

The Great Hall was buzzing with excitement as everyone gathered for the beginning of the tournament. The Durmstrang and Beauxbatons' students had arrived earlier that day, on a giant ship and flying horse-drawn carriage no less, and had now taken their seats among the Hogwarts students.

Three officials from the Ministry had been placed on a table just adjacent to the teacher's one. They were going to help judge the competition as well as mentor the chosen champions.

Buffy, who was sitting at her usual seat in between Severus and Minerva, was happily taking in the atmosphere. It had been a long time since the school had seen so much excitement.

As Dumbledore rose from his seat and stepped forward, the noise slowly faded until every eye was fixed on him.

With a great grin, he held his arms open, "Good evening, ladies, gentlemen, ghosts and most particularly, guests. I have great pleasure in welcoming you all to Hogwarts! I hope that your stay will be both comfortable and enjoyable. The tournament will be officially opened at the end of this feast, but first I would like to introduce our guests."

He stepped to the end of the teachers table where the guest Headmaster and Headmistress had seated themselves. "This is Igor Karkaroff, the headmaster of the Durmstrang Institute." He shook hands with the other man before turning to the woman sitting at his side. "And this is Madame Maxime, head of the Beuxabatons Academy."

The students all politely clapped for the guests, although the biggest noise came from the students of their own schools.

Finally Dumbledore made his way over to the Ministry's table. "And from the Ministry of Magic, we have our fellow judges and the organisers of the Tri-wizard Tournament: Mr. Bartemius Crouch, Head of the Department of International Magical Co-operation, and Mr Ludo Bagman, Head of the Department of Magical Games and Sports."

Dumbledore then came to the final guest. "And this is Mr. Ray Silverthorn, also a member of the Department of Magical Games and Sports, who will act as a mentor to the three chosen champions." Again the students clapped out of respect, even if they didn't really know much about the men.

"Now then, let the feast begin!"

Like normal the empty tables suddenly erupted with piles of food, plates of every kind of dish the students could imagine. Everyone eagerly tucked in, both hungry for the food and anxious to get the tournament started.

Buffy ate her fill of food before she glanced around the room. Most of the students were still eating, but some had risen from their seats to speak to the Durmstrang or Beuxbaton's students. Even some of the teachers had stepped up to their guests for a friendly chat.

Madame Maxime was laughing with Hagrid while Igor Karkaroff, Dumbledore and Ludo Bagman were talking quietly. Mr Crouch was conversing with Minerva and Pomona. Buffy quickly noticed how the third Ministry worker sat, looking glum as he glared at Mr Crouch who seemed so at ease talking to the other teachers.

She chuckled as she walked over to him, "You look like you could use some company."

His gaze drew up to her in surprise as she sat down next to him and held out her hand. "I'm Buffy Summers, the Defence against the Dark Arts teacher."

She saw the interest in his gaze, "Oh, really? That's... great, and for someone so young too."

She hid back her laugh, she might only look like a twenty two year old thanks to her years in Sunnydale, but she was actually in her thirties. "Hmm. So you're from the Department of Magical Games and Sports, huh? What's that like?"

"Oh, it's pretty boring actually. But Mr. Bagman is a good guy, I'm happy to be working under him." Buffy nodded as she noticed he was glaring across the room again, "Unlike Mr. Crouch. I've heard all sorts of rumours about the things he does..."

"Oh... Umm... So that's why you're sending him daggers from across the room."

"Huh? Oh you mean... It's nothing." He replied quickly, almost too quickly. He noticed her expression and laughed, "It's just... I'm not very good at talking to strangers and of the two people I know here they have both abandoned me. I can't really blame Mr. Bagman, he is my boss after all... But there's just something about Mr. Crouch that bugs me."

Buffy frowned at the strange man before something clicked in her mind. She knew from the moment Dumbledore had introduced him that she had heard his name from somewhere before. "You're Ray Silverthorn, right? You went missing a couple of weeks ago, I read it in the Daily Prophet."

He nodded, "Well, missing is a strong word. I took a holiday. It was a bit of a last minute decision, you know? I just needed to get away for a bit."

"Did you just come back to mentor the tournament?"

"Oh I already knew about the tournament and my role here before I went away. I think that was part of the problem actually, I needed to be away from everyone so that I wouldn't spill the proverbial beans."

"Oh, well that makes sense." She nodded along with him.

"Ah, Buffy." She turned her head up to Professor Dumbledore who was motioning for her to get back to her seat, "We are just about ready to begin, now."

"Right, see you later, Ray." She said with a smile as she made her way to the teacher's table. Once everyone was seated and the students all looking his way, Dumbledore continued on with his speech.

"The time is almost here!" The cheer that rang out through the hall had almost everyone grinning in excitement. "The casket, please, Mr Filch."

Everyone waited and watched with bated breath as the school caretaker wheeled out a wooden chest.

"As you know, three champions will be chosen for the tournament, one from each school. They will be marked on how well they perform in each individual task and the champion with the highest total mark will win the coveted Tri-Wizard Cup. The champions will be chosen by an impartial selector, the Goblet of Fire!"

He tugged open the casket and pulled from within a large wooden goblet that was filled with dancing, silver blue flames.

"Anyone wishing to submit themselves as champion must write their name and school on a slip of parchment and drop it into the goblet. You have twenty-four hours to place your names inside, and tomorrow night at the Halloween Feast the Goblet will return the names of the three champions. I must stress how important it is that no one under the age of seventeen enter the tournament, this is a new rule that we have all agreed upon for your own safety. The tournament is not to be entered lightly, and once a champion has been chosen, they cannot leave the tournament until it is finished."

The excitement of the hall suddenly turned to cold silence as the students took in Dumbledore's words. "That is all, I think it is now time for bed for us all."


	6. Chosen

**THE RETURN**

**Disclaimer:** All Btvs and HP characters belong to their respective owners and as always I'm not making any profit from this fic.

**A/N:** As always, big thanks to everyone for reading and reviewing :)

Chapter 6: Chosen

Harry sat eagerly at the Gryffindor table as the Great Hall began to fill with lively students. Just like the night before, everyone was chatting loudly in their excitement. Tonight was Halloween night, the night that the three champions would be picked.

Ron groaned as the Durmstrang students walked in the hall, followed by a group of Hogwarts girls who were all sighing dreamily. But he quickly perked up when the Beuxabaton's girls entered the room, taking their seats at the Ravenclaw table once again.

It didn't take long for the entire room to be packed, and soon Headmaster Dumbledore took center stage to welcome them all to the feast.

He held out his hands and smiled joyfully at all the students and guests, "Welcome, everyone. Tonight is finally the night that we choose our champions! But first, let us enjoy a feast."

And just like normal the tables sprung to life with plates of delicious food, the students all eagerly tucking into their dinners.

"Where's Fred and George? They're missing out." Harry asked as he noticed the twin's absence.

"They tried to add their names to the Goblet and are now in the hospital wing." Ron answered with a laugh, "They tried to get past the age line with an aging potion but it backfired and now they're stuck as old men."

"Why would they do something so stupid?" Hermione replied with a sigh, "There's no way they could have fooled Dumbledore."

"Well at least they gave it a go." Ron said, "I would love to be able to enter... I hope they have another tournament when we're older."

Harry scoffed into his spoon of chocolate cake, "Seriously? I get enough drama in my life as it is, thank you very much. You wouldn't see me putting my name forward."

"So who has entered for it?" Ron asked with his mouth full.

Hermione glared at him as she gestured down the table. "There's been lots of people. Angelina did, and you already know about Cedric Diggory and Cal Warrington."

"What? But he's a Slytherin! We can't have a Slytherin champion!"

"You know exactly what the teachers would say," Harry grumbled, "that he's still a Hogwarts student and that we'd have to support him."

"It's true though." Hermione said, "Wouldn't you rather have a Slytherin win the cup than someone from Durmstrang or Beauxbatons?"

"I suppose... Still, I hope the goblet has enough sense not to pick him." Ron mumbled just as the room fell silent once more and Dumbledore stood up.

"The Goblet of Fire is almost ready." he said with a smile as he watched the flames inside the cup. Almost every pair of eyes followed his gaze. "Once a champion has been called I would like for them to step up here onto the stage, and once we have all three we will be heading into the chamber to the right to await further instructions."

Suddenly the blue flames inside the Goblet turned to a dark pink colour, before finally they burned bright red, signaling that the Goblet was ready.

A gasp left the throats the students as a single spark of flame shot up, and ever so slowly a piece of parchment floated down into Dumbledore's waiting hands. He read the paper and then looked out over the anxious students who were waiting with bated breath.

"The champion for Durmstrang will be Viktor Krum."

The hall was filled with clapping and cheering as the Durmstrang student and Quidditch player, Viktor Krum stood from his seat and made his way to the front.

Seconds later and another spark of fire flew upwards into the air, another name had been selected. Dumbledore read it out loud once more. "The champion for Beauxbatons will be Fleur Delacour."

Another round of applause filled the room as the french student glided up to the font to stand next to Viktor.

The Hogwarts students held their breath as a third piece of parchment fell from the Goblet and Dumbledore caught it. "The Hogwarts champion will be Cedric Diggory."

The applause for Cedric was twice as loud as it was for the previous two. The Hufflepuff student waved as he stepped up to the front and stood beside Fleur. The three champions eyed each other as Dumbledore stepped in between them.

"So there we have it! Our champions!" When the noise finally died down he continued on, "I'm sure I can count on all of you to give our champions as much support as you can muster, and I'm sure I say this on behalf of everyone when I say good luck. It is a great pleasure to finally be able to say, let the tournament begin!"

The hall was once again filled with shouts and cheers as the champions waved and Dumbledore gestured for them to leave the stage.

The noise in the room quickly faded, however, when the watching students noticed that the Goblet of Fire was still burning a deep red, its flames flickering along the edge of the goblet.

A fourth shot of flame burned upwards and another piece of parchment drifted downwards. Dumbledore stood still, completely shocked at the strange turn of events. He plucked the paper from the air and read the name on it. His voice wavered slightly as he read it out loud.

"Harry Potter."

Harry sat in stunned silence as all eyes turned to him. This had to be a mistake...

His eyes drifted up to Dumbledore, then past him to the teachers table. Buffy looked just as shocked as he did, if even a little angry. She was mouthing something to him but his mind couldn't register what she was saying.

He felt like he was dreaming... His name was called again and he slowly got to his feet and walked down to the front, ignoring the whispers as he passed. Everyone stared at him with shocked eyes, their mouths hanging open.

As soon as he reached the stage he felt someone grab his shoulders and lead him into the side room with the other champions and their teachers. He turned t the last minute and came face to face with Buffy who frowned down at him.

"Harry, please tell me you didn't-"

"No, I didn't put my name in the Goblet! I couldn't have! I'm not over seventeen!"

She nodded, having heard enough to believe him. He heard the click of the door as Dumbledore entered, having just dismissed the other students, followed by Ludo Bagman, Bartemius Crouch and Ray Silverthorn.

"Zis must be some kind of joke. 'E is too young!" Fleur yelled while gesturing to Harry.

"You saw it yourself, his name came out of the Goblet." Ludo Bagman said with awe etched on his face. "It's amazing."

"But I didn't put my name in there!" Harry cried out.

"Hogwarts isn't allowed two champions! I've never heard of any rules involving the host school having two champions!" Igor complained, having completely ignored Harry's words.

"Oui, and as Fleur said, 'e is not of age." Madame Maxime added angrily.

"But we can't ignore that his name was pulled from the Goblet, that makes him a champion, no matter what!" Ludo replied, sounding far too happy for Harry's liking.

Harry stood back as everyone else argued around him. He was hardly paying attention to them anymore, all he could think of was that Goblet and his name being pulled out. How had he been chosen when his name had never been entered?

He didn't want this... He'd never wanted this.

He caught Buffy's gaze and she nodded to him before calling out to everyone. Her voice overpowered theirs and instantly everyone turned to look at her expectantly, "Hey! Look can you all just stop arguing for one second and listen to me?"

When she had all of their attention she looked to Harry, placing a hand on his shoulder for support. "I think we can all agree that this is just a mistake. That Harry didn't put his name in the Goblet and that he doesn't want to be a champion."

"Then that is it? We just stop him from entering, call it a mistake." Mr. Crouch said with a nod, "Yes, we could do that."

"That is all very well but you are missing the point..." Came the voice of Ray Silverthorn, who up until now had been content in listening to the others argue. "The rules clearly state that all champions called forth from the Goblet must take part in the tournament. There is no backing out."

The room was very still and silent as they all digested that information. Truthfully, they had all known about that rule but had not wanted to bring it up.

"Of course," Ludo Bagman said with a smile, "Then it is sorted. Harry is a champion as much as the others are."

There were murmurs of disagreement and nods of approval but eventually one by one people began leaving the room. Bartemuis Crouch gave the four champions their instructions and then walked away, giving Harry an apologetic look in the process.

Then the other champions left, each of them glaring at Harry, followed by their respective teachers. Finally Ludo and Ray left, talking animatedly together about how exciting it was to have four champions.

Eventually Harry was left alone with Dumbledore and Buffy who both gave him sympathetic looks.

"I'm sorry this happened, Harry. But you have no choice but to follow this path now." Dumbledore told him.

Harry nodded to himself with a sigh. So much for having a nice, quiet year at Hogwarts.


	7. The Usual Suspects

**THE RETURN**

**Disclaimer:** All Btvs and HP characters belong to their respective owners and as always I'm not making any profit from this fic.

Chapter 7: The Usual Suspects

Buffy sighed as she took the black powder and lifted her arm, before dropping it back to her side.

She had to speak with Remus and Sirius, but she had no clue what to tell them. How was she supposed to tell them that someone had put Harry's name in the Goblet, most probably with the intentions of hurting him? How was she supposed to tell them that she had failed to look after him in the short month she had been left alone with him?

She almost jumped as someone knocked on her office door, followed by a quiet, familiar voice. "Can I come in?"

"Sure, Harry." She placed the black powder back inside its bowl and pushed it away from the fireplace. "What's up?"

She winced as she realised what she had said, but Harry didn't seem to care.

"I just needed somewhere to go..."

Concern filled her features as she walked over to him and motioned to a seat beside her on the couch. "You know you can always come and talk to me, right? And not that I'm complaining, you know I love your company, but I thought you'd want to be with your friends right now."

She figured she had said something wrong again when he slumped back in his seat with a huff. "They don't want to talk to me. They don't even believe me. What great friends they turned out to be."

"They don't believe that you didn't put your name in?" At his nod she hummed, "I don't know how they could think anything else, you told them you didn't want anything to do with the tournament before it even started."

"Yeah, but they think I was just lying about it, that I found a way to get my name in the Goblet."

"I wouldn't worry about it, Harry. They'll come around once they realise you didn't want this." She said with an encouraging smile.

"Hm, I dunno. Ron seemed pretty angry at me." He looked around the room, just then noticing the pot of black powder that she had been holding on to earlier. "You were about to go somewhere and I interrupted, didn't I?"

"I was going to speak with Remus and Sirius, but it can wait. I just thought that they should know about what happened."

He nodded along, "Can I come with you? I'd like to see them."

Standing from the couch she paced in front of him as she weighed out her options. "You know you're not supposed to leave the castle for anything other than the Hogsmeade visits... But I suppose you could if we're quick, and we just keep this between us."

He nodded enthusiastically, jumping to his feet and following her over to the fireplace.

"Okay, ready?"

He nodded again as he took a handful of the powder and stepped inside. "Thirteen Grimmauld Place."

In a flash of green Harry disappeared and Buffy copied his movements until the pair of them emerged from the dusty fireplace in Grimmauld Place.

"Hey! Anyone home?" She yelled out after seeing that the living room was still and empty.

Moments later, just as the pair had settled down on the couch, Remus and Sirius came into the room, looking surprised to see the both of them again. After they said their hellos the group sat down to talk.

"So how's the tournament coming? You know who the champions are yet?" Sirius asked excitedly.

Buffy and Harry shared a look before turning back to Sirius. "Actually that's why we came. We wanted to let you know..."

"What is it?"

Harry sighed, "Someone put my name in the Goblet of Fire and I was chosen as a champion. I have to go through with it now."

Buffy winced at the shocked looks on their faces.

"What? But that's not right. I thought you had to be over seventeen to enter?" Remus asked thoughtfully, a frown on his face.

"You do, but the rules say that all the champions selected must take part. I have no choice now."

"Someone obviously wanted you in the tournament for something..." Sirius replied quickly, "Maybe to distract you, or worse, to hurt you."

Buffy nodded sadly, "That's actually what I had been thinking. But I don't see who would want to do that. There's no one at the school that would want to hurt Harry."

"You don't have any new teachers?"

"Apart from Buffy, no." Harry answered, he too had wondered over who had put his name in the Goblet.

Buffy almost groaned at the look on Sirius' face. She knew exactly what he was going to say before he had even opened his mouth. She mentally cringed as his words came out.

"It was probably Snape."

She let out a sigh as she saw Harry slowly nodding in agreement. "You know just because something bad has happened doesn't mean that Severus had anything to do with it."

"But why wouldn't he? He's a death eater." Sirius snapped back.

She shook her head, "He's not a death eater."

"Oh but you would say that, now that you're BFF's again. Do you honestly believe that he wouldn't turn right back to You Know Who if he got the chance?"

"Ugh, we've been over this a million times before, Sirius. Yes he might have been a death eater but he's not now, it may have escaped your notice but people change."

"Not him. He'll still always be the same old Snivelus. I really don't know why you insist on being friends with him." Sirius shot back with a look of disgust.

Buffy growled in frustration, "You know I never realised how hypocritical you were before. How can you really judge me for being friends with him after all the crap you went through with your own family? They didn't want you associating with all of us Gryffindors but you did anyway, how is that any different from what I'm doing?"

Sirius was stunned into silence for a moment but quickly found his answering argument. "It's different because he's evil! He worked for Voldemort! How can you just ignore that?"

"It's in the past! He's not a death eater anymore!"

"So you say..."

An awkward silence filled the room as the pair huffed and glared at each other.

With wide eyes Harry looked from one to the other and cleared his throat, "You're all completely forgetting that Hogwarts has guests, I don't think we should automatically rule them out."

Remus nodded, thankful that Harry had broken the silence. "Right, Durmstrang and Beauxbatons. The Durmstrang Institute is, of course, well known for their fondness of the Dark Arts."

Finally Sirius came out of his 'staring into space' moment and nodded along with his friend. "But that doesn't answer why they would want to involve Harry in the tournament. If anything, they should be trying to stop Harry from taking part so that they have a greater chance of winning."

"What about their headmaster, Karkaroff?" Remus asked, looking to Buffy who was slumped in her seat, her arms crossed over her chest.

"I haven't really spoken to him but he seems like an alright kinda guy, I can't see him doing anything like that."

Sirius scoffed, "You have a horrible sense of character. He's a death eater, or at least he was. He only escaped a sentence in Azkaban because he told on all the other death eaters."

Buffy glared at him from across the room, mumbling under her breath. "Gee, everyone's a death eater to you."

"Well unfortunately it's the truth. And if there's anyone out to harm Harry it's bound to be a former death eater that hasn't really given up on his old ways. Like Karkaroff and Snape."

"You don't know what you're talking about."

Remus sighed as the two of them glared at each other again, not liking how agitated they were getting. They had enough problems on their own without the two of them trying to strangle each other. Feeling sorry for Harry, who was sitting in between them looking nervous, he spoke his own thoughts. "I don't think we're going to get any answers by sitting here arguing about it. We can all agree that someone done this to get to Harry, yes?"

The others all nodded and he continued on. "We need to keep an eye on the situation. Harry, Buffy, keep watch for anyone acting suspicious around the castle and keep us updated."

"Sure." Buffy nodded as she stood, her words ground out as if she were afraid of her thoughts escaping on their own. "Come on, Harry, let's get back to school."

She stepped over to Remus and hugged him before walking into the fireplace, completely ignoring Sirius. In a flash of green she was gone.

Harry rolled his eyes at her behaviour before hugging Remus and his godfather goodbye and following after his teacher.


	8. Here There Be Dragons

**THE RETURN**

**Disclaimer:** All Btvs and HP characters belong to their respective owners and as always I'm not making any profit from this fic.

Chapter 8: Here There Be Dragons

Harry slumped to the ground with a loud thud. It had only been a few days since his name had been pulled from the Goblet of Fire and he was already feeling miserable because of it.

Ron had stopped talking to him all together now and even Hermione seemed strained when she was around him, like she couldn't work out if she was meant to take his side or stick with Ron. He supposed it was a bit unfair for her to be stuck in the middle of them, but there was no way he was going to apologise to Ron for something that he didn't even do. Ron would just have to grow up or loose out.

As if that hadn't been enough on his mind, he had then been forced to sit through a long and boring interview with top journalist Rita Skeeta, who had probably made him sound completely useless and pathetic. Then almost straight afterwards he'd been dragged into a meeting with Mr. Silverthorn who had explained the rules of the first task, which had hardly lifted Harry's mood at all.

To make matters even worse, he had been so miserable by the time he had gotten away that he had mistakenly shouted at Cho, the one girl in the entire school who had caught his attention.

Placing his head in his hands he groaned, resisting the urge to stomp around and throw a huge tantrum.

The sudden sound of someone clearing their throat behind him startled him into jumping upright and spinning around. Ray Silverthorn was standing just behind him, holding a small stack of parchment.

He smiled, "You left the classroom so quickly that you forgot these." He said, handing over the papers.

Harry took them from his hand and flipped through a couple of sheets, noticing that it was his potions essay. He was suddenly very thankful, he would have ended up with another detention if he had lost those.

"Thank you, I can't believe I forgot them."

"It's no problem, Harry." The man turned to leave but then stopped, looking over his shoulder. "Oh, the grounds keeper, uh Hagrid, is it?" At Harry's nod of affirmation he continued, "He wanted to see you tonight, said it was something important."

"Right, thank you."

"Time for bed, I think." Buffy mumbled to herself as she yawned for the fifth time in the last ten minutes.

She'd been reading up on the history of the Durmstrang Institute and Beauxbatons Academy, hoping that there might be something that would help them figure out who was after Harry. Unfortunately the books had just confused her even more, and tired her out too.

She had barely moved when the door swung open and Harry came barrelling into her office, pulling his invisibility cloak away from his shoulders as he did so.

"It's dragons! The first task is dragons!"

"What?" She was sure she had misheard him for a moment until he walked up to her and told her again. "Dragons? As in giant, flying, fire breathing beasties?"

His eyes were wide in shock as he nodded.

"You have to fight a dragon?" She asked again, trying to get her mind wrapped around that little fact.

"No, I just have to get around it. We had our first meeting with Mr. Silverthorn today and he said that the first task involved finding something. It's obvious, isn't it? The dragon will be guarding whatever I have to find."

"Okay, okay, slow down." She said, waving her arms around. "I need coffee."

She ignored the blind panic on Harry's face as she grabbed up her wand and conjured up a cup of steaming hot coffee into her hand. After taking a few sips she sighed and sat down, waiting for Harry to join her.

"Wait, you're allowed a wand, right?"

"Of course, but that's all. Ugh, what am I going to do? I can't beat a dragon!"

She gave him a thoughtful look before smiling, "Hmm... Okay, this is what we're gonna do. The task isn't for another couple of days, right? So we still have some time. We're gonna get as many spell books as we can find and we're going to practice all the water based spells."

"Water... Of course, why didn't I think of that?"

"Water spells won't harm the dragon, but they will be dead handy if you've got fireballs flying right at you. Plus if you aim it just right, you might be able to neutralise the dragon's fire power altogether. Or you could just aim for its eyes; generally the neck, eyes and heart are the weakest points for any monster."

He nodded, slowly becoming more relaxed at the idea of going against the dragon the longer they talked over strategies.

"I'm pretty sure there is a charm in here that would be useful too..." She said as an afterthought came to her. She grabbed up a book that was laying open on her desk and flicked through it. "Ah ha, the Flame freezing charm."

"Buffy, that's brilliant." Harry laughed as he took the book from her and read it. "I can use any of these to stall the dragon while I get past it."

"Sure, but don't underestimate it, Harry. It's still a dragon, and it won't hesitate to turn you into dragon kibble if you're not focusing properly."

"Well I can hardly take my invisibility cloak or my broom in there with me, can I?"

"No, but that doesn't mean you can't still use them." She answered with a grin.


	9. Let The Games Begin

**THE RETURN**

Disclaimer:

All Btvs and HP characters belong to their respective owners and as always I'm not making any profit from this fic.

**A/N: **Finally we are at the first task! Enjoy!

Chapter 9: Let the Games Begin

Buffy sat on the edge of her seat as she watched Viktor Krum dodge and dive out of the way of the dragon that had been about to squash him with its tail.

Both Cedric and Fleur had already completed their tasks, both of them leaving with their prize, the golden egg. Harry was to be the last contestant, after Viktor had finished.

Buffy was so nervous herself, she couldn't imagine what was going through Harry's mind as he waited for his turn.

The crowd gasped as Viktor dodged yet another attack from the dragon, finally grabbing up the golden egg. The arena was suddenly filled with cheering and clapping, people screaming out in delight as the dragon was quickly pulled away by Ron's brother, Charlie and the other dragon keepers.

The next few minutes went by excruciatingly slow. Buffy watched as another golden egg was placed in the arena along with the rest of the real eggs. Once everyone had cleared out of the arena the Dragon Keepers came back, dragging the Hungarian Horntail along by chains.

She couldn't help but feel sorry for the beast, being dragged into an arena where it was probably confused from all the loud noises. Then again, she figured that might have been what the Dragon Keepers wanted, in order to get the dragon angry enough to attack.

The Horntail looked agitated as it was let free, the Dragon Keepers quickly back-tracking out of the arena so that they wouldn't get hurt. And then the whistle blew, which signaled to Harry that it was his turn.

Like all of the champions so far, it took him a few moments to gather up his courage and step into the arena, the crowd instantly cheering in excitement as he did.

Buffy watched, terrified that he was going to get hurt. She believed in his abilities though, they had spent as many hours as they could practicing all the spells that they thought would be useful. She could only hope that he would remember them, and not let his fear take over.

Harry stepped forwards, his entire body suddenly feeling far too heavy to be supported by his legs as he spotted the dragon at the far end of the enclosure, it's eyes darting back and forth, always watching.

The crowd were roaring around him but he drowned out he noise, he couldn't tell if they were supporting him or not but right now he couldn't care less. His eyes narrowed as he finally spotted the egg, buried among a pile of ordinary eggs. The horntail was standing right in front of them, but he could see them clearly through its legs.

Gripping his wand tightly in one hand he began edging his way towards the eggs, keeping his eyes focused on the dragon. It was something Buffy had been trying to drill into his brain, not to let his guard down, to stay focused on his goal.

The closer he went the more defensive the dragon became, he could see its eyes narrowing at him, daring him to come closer. It's spiked tail twitched ever so slightly, telling him that she was ready and willing to use those spikes if need be.

Taking a deep breath, Harry mentally prepared himself for what he was about to do. Between himself and Buffy they had come up with a plan. His best strength was flying, but in order to do that he would need to summon his broom. So far he hadn't been very successful with that spell, so he had chosen to use it as only a last resort. He would use the other spells first, and if those failed him then he would at least have a go at summoning his broom.

Pulling up that last ounce of courage, he let out a cry as he charged forwards, straight for the golden egg.

The dragon reared back it's head, taking in a deep breath. If he hadn't been in a life or death situation, he might have taken the time to marvel at how the dragon's neck lit up as the fire ran through its throat. Instead he jumped, the fiery breath licking at his ankles, missing him by centimeters.

He landed hard on the rocky ground, but instantly scrambled to his feet and ducked behind a large boulder. The dragon's breath was still coming, he could feel the boulder heating up under his skin.

Buffy stood from her seat, and for a brief moment Harry looked up and locked gazes with her.

"Come on, Harry." She said to herself, knowing that he was capable but not wanting to see him hurt.

It might have been her imagination but she was sure he nodded at her once before he lunged out from behind the boulder and faced the dragon. Another bout of fire sprung towards him but his wand rose upwards and he cried out the spell they had been practicing for the last few days.

A jet of water leapt from his wand, clashing with the fire and stopping it in its path.

"Yes!" She almost jumped up and down in the spot but stopped herself, noticing that the people around her were watching her curiously. She slowly sat back down, sending an innocent smile to Ray who was sitting next to her.

"You seem fond of Harry." It came out as a statement rather than a question, but she knew he was asking her to elaborate.

"Uh, yeah... Well he's a special kid." She answered, being unable to tell him that she actually thought of Harry as family, that she had grown up with his parents.

The crowd gasped and her gaze was brought back to the arena, where Harry had once again dived out of the dragons way, this time from its tail which had left a huge hole in the ground where it had hit.

Jumping back to his feet he faced the dragon again, pointing his wand upwards, attempting a stunning spell. The spell hit, but casually bounced off the dragons scales and into the crowd of spectators who all ducked under their seats in fear.

He tried another spell but was once again forced to take cover behind some rocks. Knowing that he really had no other choice, he held his wand up into the air and yelled out his summoning spell.

The dragon's fire kept coming, as he waited, his breath quickening in fear. Seconds seemed to last hours in his mind as he anxiously awaited a sign, anything to tell him his spell had worked.

And then the crowd gasped, many of them pointing up into the air. Harry's gaze followed theirs and there up in the sky was his broom, soaring through the air and coming straight for him.

As it neared he positioned himself so that he was ready, and grabbed the handle of the broom as soon as it came close enough. With a jump he was climbing on top, a grin forming on his face as he pulled upwards, letting the broom take him into the sky.

Buffy joined in with the crowd as they went crazy, watching as he flew upwards, dodging the fireballs that followed him. He flew so close to the egg at one point that his fingertips grazed it before he was forced to move away again.

Having had enough of playing games, the Hungarian Horntail let out a deafening roar before rearing back and taking to the skies itself.

Watching in awe, Buffy gasped as Harry flew right out of the arena, the dragon chasing right behind him. Its jaws snapped at him, missing the end of his broom by an inch and Buffy silently urged Harry to fly faster.

He ducked and dived, trying his best to loose the dragon, or at least to distract it long enough so that he could get to the egg. It was the exact same moves he would usually use during a quidditch match.

Eventually Harry was forced to move away from the arena, whizzing past the enclosure fences as he soared through the sky, leaving the arena behind.

The crowd fell still as Harry flew out of their sight, just behind the castle. The roaring of the dragon brought the crowd to silence as they eagerly watched the skies, just waiting...

And then from out of no where Harry flew back into the arena, swooping low enough to snatch up the egg. The whistle blew and Harry slowly descended back down to the ground where he was pulled away by the Dragon Keepers.

* * *

After the scores had been given Harry was sent to the hospital wing to get checked over. He wasn't badly injured, but had a few cuts and grazes on his arms from the rocks.

As he sat on one of the beds waiting to be released the unmistakable sound of chatter and laughter came to his ears. Seconds later the doors swung open and Buffy walked in, followed by a smiling Ron and Hermione.

Buffy rushed over to him and pulled him into a tight hug. "You did it! I'm so proud of you, Harry."

He pulled away grinning, but his face fell when he saw Ron standing just behind her.

"Harry... Whoever put your name in the Goblet... I reckon they were trying to do you in!"

Harry stared at him with a cold gaze, missing the smiles that were on Buffy and Hermione's faces. "Oh, caught on then have you?"

Ron looked rather guilty as he dropped his gaze to the ground and shuffled his feet. "I think anyone who volunteers to do what you just did must be crazy. I mean, come on, it's a dragon for crying out loud! I guess what I'm trying to say is I'm... I'm really sorry for doubting you."

Harry smiled, "It's fine, forget it."

Ron grinned back, acting as if there had been no argument between them at all. "You were bloody amazing, mate."

Hermione sniffed, as she grabbed Ron by the arm and dragged him over to Harry, pulling the two boys into a big hug. "Oh, you two."

Buffy couldn't help but laugh at the scared looks on Harry and Ron's faces as the three embraced. It looked like things were finally back to normal, between them at least.


	10. Forgive and Forget

**THE RETURN**

**Disclaimer:** All Btvs and HP characters belong to their respective owners and as always I'm not making any profit from this fic.

Chapter 10: Forgive and Forget

It was a couple of days after the first task now and finally Hogwarts was beginning to get back into its normal routine once again. The second task of the tournament wasn't until after the Christmas break so Harry had a couple of months to rest before he would be back in the arena.

Putting the first task behind him, Harry spent as much time as he could with his friends. If his row with Ron had told him anything, it was that he didn't ever want to be without him or Hermione again, their friendship and support meant the world to him.

Which was why he found himself seated in between Ron and Fred at the Gryffindor table, trying to avoid the 'special' treats that the twins had made, all the while making fun of Hermione and her club for house elf rights.

"It's not right! Can't Dumbledore see that he's using the elves like slaves-"

"But they want to do it." Ron told her with an exasperated look, "They actually enjoy it."

"Because they haven't lived any other way, Ron."

Harry half ignored their argument, it was one he had heard many times before after all, and switched his attention to Dean, Lee and Seamus who were passing his golden egg between them, the three of them staring in awe.

"It's amazing. It's so heavy."

"Yeah, I almost dropped it after grabbing it in the task. I wasn't expecting it to be that heavy." Harry said in reply, waving off George who was trying to shove a plate of biscuits under his nose.

With Harry ignoring him, George's eyes traveled the length of the table. With a grin he passed the plate of custard creams onto Neville, who was sitting at the end of the table.

Neville spent some time looking at them, wondering if they were real or not before he tentatively picked one up and brought it to his mouth.

"I wouldn't eat those if I were you." All of them looked up at the new but familiar voice to see Buffy standing just behind them, smiling down at Neville who had quickly thrown the small biscuit back onto the plate.

"You never know what will happen if you take sweets from the twins. You should know that by now, Neville." She said as she patted him on the shoulder.

"Aw, you're no fun, Buffy." George said with a laugh.

Dean and Ginny moved over slightly and Buffy jumped in between them so that she was sitting at the table with the group of students.

"So what are you guys up to?" She asked.

Harry pointed towards Lee, who was now holding the egg. "We're just looking at the golden egg."

"Isn't there supposed to be a clue inside?" Buffy asked, having overheard the tournament judges speaking of a clue. "Have you opened it yet?"

Harry shook his head and the egg was promptly returned to his hands, his friends cheering him on to open it.

"Open it up, Harry! Let's see what's inside."

"Yeah, come on, Harry."

Hermione sighed, "No, he can't. He's supposed to figure the clue out on his own."

The entire group minus Hermione and Ginny rolled their eyes, perfectly copying the move they had learned from their teacher.

Buffy chuckled at them all before turning her attention to a scowling Hermione. "Rules were made to be broken, right?"

The Weasley twins grinned at her as Ron nodded, "I like the way you think."

"So, go on open it!" Lee urged again.

Harry pulled the egg down and found the opening, pulling the lid away from the top. The egg was empty inside, apart from the shrieking noise that spilled out. Immediately everyone at the table had their hands held over their ears to try and mask the loud noise.

Eventually Harry was forced to shut it and looked to all his friends. "What is that supposed to mean?"

"What was that? It sounded like a banshee." Seamus said while lifting his hands away from his head, a look of pure terror on his face.

"No, no it was more like someone being tortured..." Neville said quietly, mostly being unheard over the chatter at the table.

Buffy sent him a sympathetic look, "Of course it isn't. The task's might be dangerous but there wouldn't be anything like that involved."

Suddenly she had the entire table's attention, all eyes on her as if they were expecting an answer from her.

"What are you all looking at me for? I dunno. It sure doesn't sound like anything I've ever heard." She shrugged just as the bell chimed to signal the end of the lunch break. "Time to get to class you guys, I'll catch up with you later, Harry."

She waited until all of them had scurried off to their lessons before she walked back to her own classroom. She had a free period, something she was very grateful for with the amount of homework she had to mark.

She had barely stepped inside her classroom when she spotted someone standing by her desk, their back to her. Instantly she realised who it was and was forced to resist the urge to step back outside again.

She took in a deep, steadying breath, which seemed loud enough to make her presence known. Sirius turned around from his spot by her desk and sent her a small, awkward smile. "Hey."

"What are you doing here? I sent you guys a letter." She said, crossing her arms across her chest and avoiding eye contact as she stepped further into the room and grabbed up her pile of work, fully intending to get started on it whether he was there or not.

"Yes, we got it this morning." He replied sadly. She had wanted to tell them in person about the first task, but hadn't wanted to come face to face with Sirius after their argument, so she had reluctantly sent them a letter instead of visiting them herself.

"And I came to congratulate Harry... As well as apologise to you." He continued slowly.

Her eyes snapped up to his. He wanted to apologise? She had expected him to gloat, to tell her how stupid she was for trusting an ex-death eater, anything but apologise...

"I just... I know I overreact sometimes and... Well you know how much I hate that guy." He said as he paced up and down the room, her eyes following him intently. "But you were right, as usual, and I'm sorry for having a go at you for being friends with Snape." He stopped his pacing to turn and face her, his expression turning from concerned to strict.

"I still don't like it, but I shouldn't have taken my anger out on you. If you trust him... then I guess... we'll have to as well."

She stared at him for a long moment, trying to let his words in. It was so unlike him to openly admit that he was wrong, a part of her couldn't believe that he was actually saying these things.

He was staring at her with one eyebrow up, obviously expecting some snarky comment back.

"I guess I said some things I shouldn't have too." She said, suddenly feeling a bit guilty for bringing his family into their argument. She remembered everything he had gone through involving them and none of it had been fair on him.

He shook his head, "No, no you were right. I'm sorry."

"It's fine, really." She said with a smile, "But you have to know that I'm not just going to stop talking to Sev just because he has a bad past. None of us can say we are completely innocent, can we?"

"No, and I get that. But that doesn't mean I have to like the guy." He said with a grimace.

She laughed, catching the surprise on his face. Obviously he hadn't been expecting her to give up so easily. His eyebrows rose at her next words. "But I can soon change that!"

"Pfft, you're crazy." He joked while smirking at her.

"Oh? I thought you said I was always right?"

"Oh, shut up."


	11. Expert Advice

**THE RETURN**

**Disclaimer:** All Btvs and HP characters belong to their respective owners and as always I'm not making any profit from this fic.

Chapter 11: Expert Advice

It was almost Christmas and Hogwarts was once again filled with excitement the closer the holidays came.

News of the traditional Yule Ball soon swept across the school and suddenly it was all the girls were talking about, and all the boys were grumbling about.

Harry himself was looking forward to the holidays since he would be able to leave the school for Christmas for the very first time. Unfortunately the closer the holidays came the closer the Yule Ball came and he still hadn't asked a girl to be his dance partner.

There was only one girl he really wanted to go with, but he just couldn't get up the courage to ask her. Especially when she was so often crowded with all her friends around her.

He needed help, and lots of it...

* * *

It was the day of the Hogsmeade visit and once again Harry prepared himself to wave goodbye to his friends. The previous year he had not been allowed to go with them because his Aunt and Uncle hadn't given him permission. Since technically they were still his guardians and they still hadn't given him permission, he knew he would once again be left behind.

He slowly made his way down to the front entrance where the students were all to gather. There was a huge crowd of people, all dressed in their warm winter gear as they laughed and talked, some of them were even playing in the snow that covered the ground.

Within the crowd he quickly spotted Ron and Hermione who were standing together. Hermione was saying something to Ron but he didn't seem to be paying any attention to her. Harry smiled at the pair of them, they would never admit to it, but sometimes they really did act like an old married couple.

"Oh there you are!" Buffy's voice called out and seconds later she was at his side, frowning down at him. "Where's your jacket? You'll freeze all day wearing just that."

"I'll be fine once I get inside." He replied with a shrug.

"Inside? I thought you wanted to come on the Hogsmeade visit?"

"I'm not allowed..."

"Says who?" she laughed at his confused expression, "I talked with the boss and he agreed to let you come out as long as I keep an eye on you. Besides we all know you'd just use the cloak anyway."

He tried to shake his head but found that she was right. He would have used the secret entrance to get into Hogsmeade if he hadn't been allowed. "You mean I can actually go this time? Without breaking the rules?"

"Sure. Go get your things."

He nodded and ran as fast as he could through the castle and back to his room, grabbing a jacket and pulling on a hat and a pair of gloves. As soon as he was done he made his way back to the school entrance where he joined his friends, a smile on his face.

* * *

Hogsmeade looked amazing as usual, the small cottage-like shops lining the town square, bright lights shinning in every window. Wreaths of ivy had been hung on doors and Christmas lights decorated the rooftops and walls.

Just like at Hogwarts, a thick blanket of snow had fallen on the ground, turning the entire town into a giant playing field.

As soon as the group of students and their teachers arrived at Hogsmeade they split into smaller groups. Many of students running out into the snow to have snowball fights together whereas the chilly teachers ran for cover into the nearest buildings.

Since Buffy was going to be meeting up with Remus and Sirius at the Three Broomsticks, Harry decided to go to the pub with her in order to get somewhere warm. He said goodbye to Hermione and Ron who were more interested in shopping and followed his teacher into the pub.

Just like he remembered from the previous year, the pub was a busy place filled with both Hogwarts students and teachers alike. There was a warm, welcoming atmosphere which seemed to bring everyone in.

They stood at the bar to order their butterbeers before finding an empty table by the back of the room.

The pair had barely sat down at a table when Harry spotted Cho sitting across the room, sitting with her friends, laughing at something they had said. He found himself staring at her until she looked his way, his head instantly snapping back to Buffy in front of him.

He winced as he suddenly realised how sad he probably looked, sitting in the pub and having a drink with his teacher...

"Ugh they're late. I hope they haven't frozen to death." She said distractedly as she watched the doorway, her hands tugging her jacket so that it was warmer against her skin.

"Hmm..."

She turned back to Harry and cocked her head to one side. Harry was staring down at his drink looking a little distracted himself.

"What's up, Harry?"

"It's nothing."

"No seriously, you have something face. What's wrong?"

He sighed, his eyes darting over to Cho who was no longer paying him any attention. "It's just this Yule Ball dance thing. I have to open it because I'm one of the champions."

"Yeah... So?"

He shrugged, not wanting to say what he was really thinking.

She made an 'o' face and leaned in so that they were sitting closer. "You mean you haven't got a date yet?"

She knew she had guessed rightly as his cheeks turned bright pink, and it wasn't from the cold.

"Well it's not like I haven't been asked by anyone, because I have... Just not by the right person."

"Ah... I know exactly what you mean." She said with a nod, thinking back to her own school days. "So you haven't actually asked a girl yourself?"

He shook his head, then sighed before he nodded towards Cho's table. "I really want to ask Cho. But I always mess up before I can ask, or I do something stupid and make myself look like an idiot."

Buffy smiled at him, her eyes searching across the room, "I'm sure she doesn't think that. Besides she keeps looking over here anyway, I don't think you'll have to try too hard to get her to agree to go with you."

"Really? But I can't talk to her. I mean how am I supposed to talk to her with all of her friends around her? I just need a way..." His head almost fell into his butterbeer again.

Buffy laughed quietly as she held her hands up in mock surrender, "You're asking me? Trust me I have the worst luck when it comes to men, you really don't need my advice." Just then the bell above the door chimed as Remus and Sirius came in, shaking off the snow from their hair and shoulders.

Buffy grinned at Harry, "Why don't you talk to Sirius? He was quite the little charmer back at school, I bet he'll have some tips."

The pair quickly took a seat with Buffy and Harry and the four of them chatted about school and Grimmauld place for a while until Harry finally asked if Sirius wanted to go for a walk outside.

"What was that all about?" Remus asked as he watched them leave the pub together.

Buffy giggled to herself, "Harry has girl troubles. I told him to talk to an expert."

"Oh, you know I'm kind of insulted that he didn't want to talk to me." He joked, laughing at the look on his sister's face.

"Oh yeah, I can totally imagine that conversation. You'd both end up bright red."

"What are you trying to say?"

She smiled sweetly, "That you're just as hopeless as I am."


	12. Dancing The Night Away

**THE RETURN**

**Disclaimer:** All Btvs and HP characters belong to their respective owners and as always I'm not making any profit from this fic.

**A/N:** I've decided to post this chapter up now too, since the last one was so short and I already had this ready to go, plus I'm really excited about this chapter. Thank you to everyone who is still reading and reviewing :).

Chapter 12: Dancing the Night Away

Students gasped as they walked into the Great Hall, staring in awe at how different the room looked. It had been decorated in silver, with branches of ivy and mistletoe spread along the walls. The windows were covered in a fine, glistening frost and the Christmas tree that stood in one corner was almost glowing from head to toe.

Where the teachers table usually sat was now a small stage that stood in front of the dance floor. Tables had been pushed to one side of the room for food and drink and some smaller round tables were placed off to one side so that people could sit and eat.

Everyone was wearing their best dress robes, the girls all in brightly coloured dresses, their hair done up perfectly, and the boys in their dark robes and shinning shoes.

The students were all huddled into the room, excitedly talking among themselves as they waited for the Yule Ball to begin. Standing just behind them was the teachers and the school's guests.

Remus and Sirius stood together at the back, watching for the moment when the champions would appear for the first dance. Both of them were eager to see Harry and his date.

They both turned their attention to Buffy as she walked over to them wearing a long, black strapless dress with silver diamonds around the chest and waistline. She stopped at their side and gave them a confused glance.

"I didn't realise you guys were coming. How..?"

"Albus invited us." Remus replied simply, resisting from pulling his sister in for a hug in front of so many people who were not aware of their relationship.

"You look great." Sirius said as he took in her outfit.

She smiled and looked at the pair of them in their own robes, at least they had made an effort to look nice for the night. "Thanks, you too."

The doors to the Great Hall swung open just as the lights dimmed and the four champions and their partners stepped into the room.

Fleur looked radiant as normal as she gracefully stepped in, wearing a long silver dress that glittered in the light. Her partner Roger was transfixed on her, not even taking his eyes away from her when they stopped in front of Dumbledore and the other headteachers.

Second in line was Krum, wearing the traditional dress robes from his country which were covered in dark fur. Hermione walked alongside him in her blue flowing dress, their arms linked at the elbows and a massive grin on her face.

Third to enter was Cedric and his partner. Cedric was dressed handsomely in plain black dress robes, and his his partner Cho who wore a long flowing cream dress with pink flowers around the collar.

Finally Harry stepped into the room with Parvati clinging onto his arm, her long pink dress falling to the floor as she walked. She appeared to be more interested in waving to all her friends than concentrating on where they were going as they finally stopped behind the other champions and waited for the headmaster to speak.

Dumbledore opened the Yule Ball with a few short words before he gestured to the dance floor.

Buffy grimaced as she watched them. As soon as soft music began playing the four champions and their partners took up their places and began slow dancing to the song.

"Harry got the girl then?" Sirius said with a smile as he watched them dancing. "I knew he would after all that amazing advice I gave him."

Buffy quickly shook her head, pointing into the crowd. "You're not quite as charming as you thought apparently. That's actually Parvati, Cho is the girl he wanted to go with but she's already dating Cedric."

"Ah..."

"Doesn't that bring back memories?" Remus laughed as they watched until the dance ended, and the rest of the students all ran onto the dance floor as a more lively tune started playing.

"I dunno about you two but I'm starving." Buffy announced while rubbing her stomach, "I'm gonna go grab something."

She disappeared into the crowd leaving the two of them alone to watch as the students danced the night away.

* * *

A little later into the night Remus and Sirius found themselves seated at a table with Ray, three empty plates sitting in front of them.

They had easily recognised Ray from their days at school, and the three of them had had an easy conversation about older times, laughing over memories they had all long forgotten.

"So how did you get the job here as the mentor?" Remus asked as their conversation turned towards the Triwizard tournament.

"Ludo offered me the role as soon as it became available. I suppose he wanted someone from his own department involved rather than another worker from International Magical Co-operation."

"Oh that's right, I was sure you worked with Mr. Bagman."

Ray nodded with a smile, "Yes, I have for many years now."

Sirius sat back in his chair, "And you didn't ever want to move up into a higher, more important department? Like Mr. Crouch's."

Ray scoffed, his expression telling them all they needed to know about his feelings. "No, never. I wouldn't ever want to work under that man. I mean he calls himself a judge in this competition and yet he hasn't even showed up for tonight. The Yule Ball is an important part of the games, it's not just for show."

"I was wondering where he was tonight." Remus said thoughtfully.

"Yes, I heard he was ill and unable to attend." Ray added, his tone bitter.

A silence settled over their table as the three of them stared off into the distance, each in their own thoughts.

"So how did you two get invited tonight? Not that I'm complaining about the company, but I thought it was only for school staff and the students?" Ray asked as he took a sip of his drink.

"Oh, well I taught here last year, I suppose I became close to some of the students." Remus said without thinking, "Plus then there's Buffy."

"Oh?"

Sirius' eyes widened as he realised what his friend had just inadvertently revealed. With a forced smile on his face he subtly kicked Remus under the table, reminding him just who they were talking to. Even though they had known Ray from their own school days, even though they were talking now as if they were good friends, he was still from the ministry. And he wouldn't hesitate to give away Buffy's secret if he found out.

Thinking of the first thing that popped into his mind, Sirius smiled at Ray. "We're cousins... Distant cousins. But we're close now."

"That's strange. I've spoken to her a couple of times and she's never mentioned you before. Although I suppose it's really none of my business." Ray smiled into his drink, missing the looks that passed from Sirius and Remus.

A figure stumbled over to the table, singing along to the song that was playing. "Ah there you are, Ray! I need to show you something, plans for the upcoming task."

The three of them looked up to Ludo Bagman who grinned toothily at them. Ray quickly finished his drink and excused himself before following his boss through the crowds of students.

"Thank you, I can't believe I almost let that slip out." Remus said as he turned to Sirius with a guilty look.

"It's fine. Let's just not do that again... Great, now I have to remember Buffy as my 'cousin'."

* * *

The pair had stayed at the same table, just talking and occasionally watching out over the dance floor. They had laughed when they spotted Buffy dancing along with some of the students but once again she had disappeared from their views now.

Harry and Ron had also been missing for the majority of the evening, but soon made their presence known as they slumped down into the seats besides the two adults, the both of them looking tired and fed up.

"Aren't you going to stay out there and dance some more?" Sirius asked as he nudged Harry on the arm.

"Are you kidding me? That one dance was enough for me, we've been sitting outside for the rest of the time."

Ron nodded in agreement, "I wasn't even a part of it and I feel exhausted. And besides Padma is already dancing with someone else..."

They watched out over the crowd and sure enough Padma and Parvati were dancing together with a couple of boys from Beauxbatons.

"Well at least Hermione is having fun." Remus commented happily as he spotted her dancing with Krum, a huge smile on her face. She looked like she was having the time of her life.

Ron grumbled as he glared at Krum. "What does he even want with her? I mean he's not even from this country! He's from Durmstrang!"

Remus quickly shut his mouth and cleared his throat, his eyes wildly searching the room for someone else they could talk about that would not make Ron angry. "Oh, look at Hagrid and Madame Maxime, they make a good couple."

Ron stopped his ranting for a second to look up, before he continued to talk their ears off about Hermione and Krum. "What does she see in him? He's just a big-"

"Says the guy who wanted his autograph..." Harry muttered, sighing when Ron ignored him and continued complaining. "I can't wait for tonight be over so I can go back to Grimmauld place tomorrow."

"She's fraternizing with the enemy! That's what she's doing!"

With an annoyed groan, Harry grabbed Ron by the arm, momentarily surprising him into silence, before he pulled his friend up. "Let's just go, Ron."

Sirius laughed at them as they left, "Wow, and I thought our school lives were complicated. I think Ron is a little jealous."

"Just a little." Remus said with a soft laugh, the pair of them watching out over the crowd once more.

Sirius' eyes gazed out, instantly spotting the bright blonde hair that belonged to Buffy through the crowd. She was standing with her back to them, talking to someone who was sitting at another table at the opposite side of the room.

As Buffy moved slightly he caught sight of dark hair and a moody expression and groaned. Buffy was talking to Severus, and was apparently trying to persuade him to get up and dance. She was holding her hand out but Severus was shaking his head in silent refusal.

Remus followed his friends gaze and frowned at the scene. "I hope she knows that there's no way he's going to get up and-"

Suddenly Buffy grabbed Severus by the arm and literally dragged him to his feet, tugging on his sleeve until he had followed her onto the dance floor.

Remus and Sirius' mouths both fell open in surprise.

"What is she doing?" Sirius growled as they watched them stand together. Severus still seemed reluctant to move and was just standing on the spot, looking uncomfortable until Buffy took his arms and forced him to dance.

"Dancing. That's what people do at these things." Remus replied, trying to keep the sarcasm out of his voice. Sirius was too busy glaring to notice the teasing look on his friend's face.

"But it's Snape!"

"I thought you two talked about this and-"

"Yeah, but that was before she was dancing with him. I mean, look at him, he's a huge slime ball. Why would she want to dance with him anyway?"

Remus tried his hardest not to laugh as Sirius unconsciously copied Ron and started sulking like a child who'd had his favourite toy taken away. "You're jealous!"

"No, I'm not." Sirius spun around to face his friend, his words coming out too fast to be believable. "Why would I be jealous of that git?"

"I know that look, Sirius. I just saw it on Ron's face a minute ago." Remus said, enjoying how easily he was able to tease his friend.

"I'm not jealous." He demanded before he turned his gaze back to the dancing pair. "I just don't like him. Are you telling me you're fine with this?"

Remus sighed. He didn't think he would ever be fine with seeing his sister hanging around Severus, but things had changed since they were children. Things were so different now. "She's not a child any more. I think my days of playing the overprotective brother are long gone. Besides, if this is what she wants then I'll be happy for her. I might not like it, but I'll be happy."

"Uh, I guess..." They continued to watch as Buffy danced and Severus tried to act like he was having fun until the song slowly faded away and Severus slipped off into the crowd, making a quick get away before he could be dragged in for another dance.

Having lost her partner, Buffy made her way over to their table and sat down with a loud sigh.

"Having fun over here in your dark corner?"

"Not really." Sirius answered darkly, having lost his good mood.


	13. Family, Old and New

**THE RETURN**

**Disclaimer:** All Btvs and HP characters belong to their respective owners and as always I'm not making any profit from this fic.

**A/N:** Yay a Christmas chapter! Even though it's not Christmas yet... I seem to be getting into the holiday spirit a bit too early this year but oh well. On with the show!

* * *

Chapter 13: Family, Old and New

"I just want you for my own, more than you could ever know. Make my wish come true. All I want for Christmas is..."

Buffy sang and danced along with the music on the radio as she stood in the kitchen of 13 Grimmauld place, stirring the vegetables that were slowly cooking in a saucepan.

Behind her Remus stood at the table, placing out knives and forks and empty glasses ready for everyone to sit down for dinner.

Molly Weasley stepped into the room, chuckling to herself at Buffy's singing before she took the turkey from the oven and finished preparing it.

It was Christmas day and Sirius had decided to invite all of their family and friends to spend the day with them. Molly and Buffy had been working together all day in the kitchen, the older witch teaching Buffy (who was a self confessed disaster in the kitchen) how to make the traditional Christmas dinner.

Sirius stepped into the kitchen to see how everything was going, his eyes taking in the brightly coloured decorations that Buffy had insisted on hanging just about everywhere. "Is it almost ready? The natives are going a bit crazy in there." He gestured to the living room where Harry, Hermione and the rest of the Weasley clan were waiting. "And what is that awful noise?"

Buffy stopped her singing instantly, "Hey!"

"That's better." He said, sending her a sweetly innocent smile.

"That's it! None of my yummy vegetables for Sirius!" She said while pouting at him.

"If you cooked them than I'd rather not have any anyway."

"Hmpf."

He laughed until Molly smacked him with a wooden spoon. "Buffy's been doing great today, so be nice. And it is almost done, I just need to serve it up." Quickly she noticed that Buffy was too busy sticking her tongue out at Sirius to notice her vegetables boiling over. "Buffy, dear, your veg-"

"Ahhh no!"

Eventually between the two of them they served out eleven plates of hot dinner and placed them on the table, yelling out to the others that their food was ready. The adults were forced to step back as the hungry teenagers barged in and jumped in their seats as if they hadn't been fed for weeks.

* * *

After the lovely dinner the group all sat down around the fireplace, the teenagers playing games together while the adults sat back and relaxed, chatting about how nice it was to have everyone together for the first time in such a long while.

The later it got the more tired they became, and one by one they began going off to bed. Since the house had so many rooms that were normally empty Sirius had asked them all to stay for the night too.

Eventually Buffy and Remus were the only ones left up. Buffy was of course used to staying up late and found that she was unable to sleep past a certain time any more, her body was just too alive.

"Oh, here I have something for you." Remus said as he ran off into the kitchen, coming back seconds later with a plain brown box, about the size of a shoebox. "I thought it would be best to wait until everyone else had gone up to bed to show you this."

"More presents?" She asked in surprised. "But you already gave me-"

"Well not a present in that sense." He said, which earned him a confused look. "I was looking though my vault at Gringots when I came across this. I must have put it away for safe keeping after you left." He said while handing over the box.

Now curious, Buffy pulled back the lid and found her breath hitched in her throat. Inside was a very familiar book. The covering, which was once made of bright red leather, was now dark crimson, the leather cracked in places. There was no title, but she didn't need one to know what it was.

Carefully she pulled out the book and flipped the cover over, taking in the memories of her old scrapbook, the book that she had written in about her friends and family, where she had stuck photos of all of them together.

The very first photo was of her real family. Her and Remus and their parents, back when she had only been a baby and Remus just a toddler.

"Oh, I can't believe you kept this all these years!" She said while passing her fingers over the moving photograph.

"To be honest I had completely forgotten about it." He replied with a smile as he nudged her, sitting next to her so that he too could see the page.

"I miss them." She said sadly as she took in the faces of their mother and father, who had both died a long time ago.

"Yeah, me too."

Flipping through the pages she noticed how the images showed her and Remus growing up together, both at home and at Hogwarts. And then there were pictures of her friends, of her and Lily laughing at each other, the Marauders all together, there was even one of her and Severus, who wasn't looking very happy at having his photo taken.

Looking up at her brother she beamed at him, "Thank you, Remmy. I love it."

"I'm glad. I was afraid you might not have wanted to see the photos, what with all the memories they bring."

She shook her head slightly. The images did bring back memories, some being memories that she would rather forget, but it was a part of her past, something to help give her a place in this world, even if it was a secret.

"Well, if it's all right by you, I think I will head on up to bed." Remus said with a yawn as he patted her on the head affectionately.

"Sure, I don't suppose it will be long before I head up myself." She answered, not really paying attention to her brother as he walked away, her eyes were transfixed on the book in front of her.

Again she found herself drawn into the images, a small part of her wishing she could go back to those times when everything had been simpler, happier.

After spending another half hour looking through the photos, Buffy paused, suddenly feeling a wave of sadness wash over her. In front of her was a photo of her and her friends at the Hogwarts Halloween ball. It was the last photograph of her, since it had been taken just a few days before she had disappeared.

With a sigh she flipped through the remaining pages, each of them empty and plain. Until she stopped at the very last page, her mouth opening in surprise.

Right at the very end of the book, on the very last page was a single photograph. There were no words written beside it, no title or annotations as the other pages had. The photograph wasn't even moving.

With wide eyes, she stared at the photo of herself and all her friends, her friends from Sunnydale.

She remembered the scene well. It had been their last Christmas together, and the entire group had barged into the Summers home for the night. They had sat around the fireplace together, Buffy in the middle of them, surrounded by loving friends and family.

Faith had been leaning on the couch behind her, pulling a strange face while Dawn looked on, grinning. Willow had been curled up besides Kennedy, unable to keep their eyes off of each other. Giles had been sitting next to Buffy, looking proudly on their 'family'. And Xander had been in mid-laugh, watching Spike who was giving them all unimpressed glares.

Buffy's fingers reached out and traced the lines on the page, the friendly faces that she missed now more than ever.

The image hadn't been in there before, and she certainly hadn't stuck it in. So who had?

Although she had told her brother about the people she had lived with, the people she had loved back in Sunnydale, she knew he hadn't had a photo to place in the book, so it definitely hadn't been him either.

She didn't know who had put this photo in her album, but whoever did, had made her day.


	14. The Clue

**THE RETURN**

**Disclaimer:** All Btvs and HP characters belong to their respective owners and as always I'm not making any profit from this fic.

**A/N:** :) Thank you so much to everyone still reading and reviewing.

* * *

Chapter 14: The Clue

"Very good, Seamus. You're getting better."

Buffy walked around the classroom, correcting the students on their positioning or helping them with the moves she had taught them. Just like in her other classes, she had cleared a space in the middle of the room and split the class into groups. This time though she had let the groups practice on their own, they'd had enough lessons for her to feel confident that they wouldn't mess around.

She stopped beside Hermione and offered out a few tips before watching as she fought against Ron, who seemed genuinely shocked at how good she was doing.

Buffy and Hermione shared a grin before a quick knock on the door caught their attention. Buffy called out and moments later Ray stuck his head round the corner, his eyes taking in the many students who were practising their punching and blocking techniques.

"I was just wondering if I could steal Harry for a moment. It's about the Triwizard Tournament." He said as he came fully into the room.

Buffy nodded and looked over to where Harry was partnered with Dean. "Harry, Ray needs to see you."

He quickly ran into her office where she had let the students leave their school bags.

"I didn't know Dumbledore approved of such... violence." Ray said as he watched the students again, his face scrunched up in confusion. "They're wizards, why do they need to be taught muggle ways of fighting?"

Buffy smiled at him although she hated his question. She had been asked it more than once before. "Because I believe that they are better prepared if they can fight with or without a wand. So I'm teaching them both."

"If you don't mind me asking, where did you learn to fight like a muggle yourself?" She heard the disapproval in his voice as clearly as she could see him.

"My father taught me a long time ago." She said while thinking of Giles, she would almost consider him as a father so it wasn't exactly a lie. "And he was a muggle."

"Ah, I see."

Harry came bounding out from her office and met them by the door. "I'm ready."

"Don't forget your homework!" Buffy called out as the two of them wandered down the hall.

* * *

A cold breeze swept across her body as Buffy walked through the forbidden forest, her breath coming out in puffs of white air.

The forest was beautiful in the winter, when the snow fell like dust over the trees, a thin layer of frost covering the earth and the small pools of water lightly frozen and cracked.

When she had been a child living at Hogwarts she had ignored the horror stories people would tell her about the forest. She had always seen it as a magical and peaceful place, rather than a scary woods filled with monsters. Perhaps it had been the inner potential slayer in her, but she had never been afraid of the forest.

And even now, when she stood out in the open, looking up at the clear sky above her, she felt at peace. Almost as if the tranquility of the forest could wash away all her problems, all her doubts and all her insecurities.

With a smile on her face she moved out of the forest, her boots crunching on the frozen earth under her feet until she came to the path that would lead her back to the school.

Just before she stepped into the castle she slipped her dagger into its sheath at her ankle, and twisted her hair back, sliding her wand through the strands so that it stayed in place. She didn't want to alarm anyone who was still up by walking through the school armed with a fierce looking dagger.

She stepped through the silent corridors with ease, her boots tapping on the floor as she walked. She was just passing by the library when she stopped, catching a faint light flickering inside.

Purposefully keeping her footsteps light so that she didn't make a sound, she stepped into the library and looked around. There, sitting at one of the tables was Harry, his head resting in a book, his eyes closed and his glasses sitting across his nose at a strange angle.

She smiled as she stepped up to him, gently shaking him awake. "Harry, wake up."

"Buffy?" He sat up straight looking alarmed for a moment before he realised that it was Buffy who had found him and not Mr. Filch.

"Doing some late night studying, huh?" She asked as she took the book from him and looked it over. He had reading about water creatures...

"Yeah, I needed to look up some things."

"It's getting a bit late, Harry. Maybe you should head up to bed. Come on, I'll walk you there." She handed him his book back and waited for him to stand and gather his things. She didn't want him walking back to the common room on his own in case he ended up in trouble. At least if he was caught with her it would be assumed that she had already told him off for being out of bed.

"So what was so important that you had to sneak down to the library?" She asked as they walked, keeping their voice low so that they didn't disturb anyone.

"I figured out the clue in the egg. I tried to find you to ask for help but you had disappeared so I went to the library."

"Yeah, I was out."

"In the forbidden forest, right?" At her nod he continued on, "Why do you always go into the forest, anyway?"

She opened her mouth to answer but a tingling sensation ran down the back of her neck, instantly stilling her. Harry gave her a confused look as she stopped in place and looked around them, finding nothing but empty corridors and stone walls.

Years of being the Slayer had taught her to trust her instincts, and right now they were telling her that they were being watched.

Seeing that there was no one in sight she let out a breath, the feeling was still there but she could ignore it for the moment.

She cleared her throat, purposefully ignoring Harry's questioning eyes. "So what was the clue?"

He gave her a small smirk, just to let her know that he knew what she was up to. Although he was really too tired to bug her further about her night time activities so he went along with her change of subject.

"I had to put the egg underwater and open it, that way the weird noise turned into singing. The song was about the mer-people in the lake, about them taking something from me, something that I have to get back."

"So you have to go into the lake? You can swim, right?"

Harry sighed, "Yes, but not underwater for an entire hour. The song said I have that long to look. Is there anything I can do to help me breathe underwater?"

"I'm not sure, Harry." She answered with a shrug. "If you needed help with some big, nasty beastie then I'd be there, but I can't really help all that much with turning yourself into a fish. I'm sorry."

"Turning myself into a fish, huh?"

She smiled down at him, "Yeah that's a pretty complex spell, I wouldn't even attempt it if I were you. There's only a couple of days left before the second task... Maybe you should speak to Professor Flitwick, there might be some charms or something that he can help with."

"Yeah, maybe... Although I doubt he would tell me anything, I'm supposed to do this on my own, remember?"

She grinned down at him, "Then why are you asking me?"

"Because I know you won't tell on me." He answered, his expression suddenly very serious.

"Of course I wouldn't. How did you work out the underwater thingy anyway?"

"Oh, Ray kind of told me... Not out loud I mean, he just kinda hinted at it." Harry said.

"Oh, so much for you doing this by yourself." She mumbled under her breath, but he still heard it anyway.

"I don't see what the problem is, you helped me with the first task."

"Yes but I'm only your teacher. He's part of the whole Tournament, what with being the champions' mentor and all. He's only supposed to guide you, not tell you the answers."

"It doesn't really matter much now, does it?" Harry said with a smile as they came to the common rooms.

"I guess not." She murmured, watching as Harry stepped through the portrait hole and out of sight.

She stood there just outside the portrait for a moment, just letting her mind take in everything.

First the feeling of being watched... She hadn't seen or sensed anyone around them, but that didn't mean that there hadn't been someone there. But why would anyone be watching her? Or was it Harry they were watching?

Was it one of the other champions? No, she didn't believe that any of them were good enough at hiding themselves for her to miss them. Or could it have been Madame Maxime or Igor Karkaroff, trying to scope out the competition?

And secondly, what was up with Ray? Why would he randomly tell Harry the answer behind the clue, when it was clearly stated in the rules that the champions had to work out the clue on their own. It couldn't have been because he wanted Harry to win, he wasn't supposed to have favourites... Or had he told all four of the champions?

The two incidents seemed miles apart, and yet she couldn't shake the feeling that they were somehow connected...

* * *

She'd had a terrible night's sleep, her mind always wandering on the many questions that plagued her. This had resulted in a very cranky Buffy the next morning when she had woken late, realising she didn't have long before her class was to begin.

Her first lesson of the day was actually her seventh year class, and Buffy cheered slightly as she realised that Cedric was one of the students.

As soon as they entered she set them their work, getting them to revise for their coming exams while she walked around the room, helping anyone that needed assistance.

As she came to Cedric's table she stopped in front of him and he instantly looked up at her, a smile on his face. "What's up, Buffy? You look confused."

She opened her mouth to speak but then stopped herself, she couldn't just ask it out loud, not in front of all the other students. She leaned against the desk just in front of him, knowing that she was probably disturbing the student sat there but not really caring.

"I was just wondering how you were getting on with the tournament. You were really great during the first task."

He nodded, used to chatting with her about the tournament. "It's going fine, thanks. I can't wait for the second task, although I'm a bit nervous really."

"So you know what the task is then? I heard there was a clue or something..?"

He laughed as he nodded, "Yes, in the golden egg. It didn't take me long to figure it out."

"And you figured it out on your own?" She asked carefully, trying not to sound as if she were interrogating him.

"Sure, it was easy."

She nodded. She didn't believe he was lying, and his words suggested that it had only been Harry that Ray had spoken to that day. Which would mean that their mentor was breaking the rules of the tournament. And that was definitely suspicious behaviour in her mind.

"I take it you have a plan for the task then?" She asked, keeping up the conversation so that he wouldn't think she was ignoring him all of a sudden.

"Yeah, I've been practising all over the holidays."

"Oh great, I'm sure you'll do just fine then." She said, patting him on the shoulder while she turned away, her expression darkening as soon as she was out of his line of sight.


	15. The Second Task

**THE RETURN**

**Disclaimer:** All Btvs and HP characters belong to their respective owners and as always I'm not making any profit from this fic.

* * *

Chapter 15: The Second Task

Harry's head slipped down from his hand and he jerked awake with a start, his eyes wildly searching the library where he was sitting, his arm resting on the desk.

He had been going to the library every night for the past two days, trying desperately to find something, anything that would help him with the task. Unfortunately all the time spent reading up had left him tired and exhausted, and he had obviously fallen asleep and wasted precious time.

A quick look to his watch told him that it was just before seven in the morning. He still had time.

Frantically he began flipping through pages, his desk seeming to disappear under the sheer amount of books he had piled up. Every so often he would check the time, trying his best to ignore how his heart sped up in fear each time.

He searched every book he could get his hands on, knowing that in his haste he was probably missing various pages but not knowing what else to do.

At half eight in the morning he resigned himself to his failure and with a frustrated cry slumped back in his chair, holding his head up in his hands. There was no way he could complete the task without knowing how to breathe underwater, so he would just have to give up...

The library doors swung open slowly and Harry sat up, hoping that it wasn't the librarian coming in, she would definitely have something to say about the mess he had made. But instead of a shrill cry of anger, he heard a soft, almost nervous voice call out.

"H-Hello?"

The voice was familiar, and Harry stood up to see over the piles of books, quickly spotting Neville as he stood by the doorway, holding a single book in his arms.

"Oh, hey Harry. What are you doing here? Aren't you meant to be getting ready for the task?" He asked while stepping over various books that had been slung on the floor until he was standing next to his friend.

Shaking his head slowly, Harry answered. "I'm not going. I can't finish the task, I can't find anything to help me."

"Help you with what? I was just bringing this book back for Mr. Silverthorn, but maybe I can help?" Neville said, sounding nervous as if he expected Harry to tell him he was too useless to help.

Harry turned to him sharply, "Well do you know any ways that I can breath underwater for an hour?"

"Oh, well you could use gillyweed." Neville said with a shrug.

"Gillyweed?"

"Sure, it should let you breath underwater for an hour... I think..."

Harry shook his head in disbelief, in all this time he had been asking the wrong people, looking in all the wrong places. "Neville, that's brilliant! You are a genius!"

* * *

Not half an hour later saw Harry stood outside in the freezing morning air, wearing nothing but his swimming trunks and holding onto his wand and a small pile of gooey gillyweed.

Fighting back the exhaustion from spending so much time awake in the last few days, he shivered as he stepped onto the wooden walkway and joined the other champions.

Cedric was standing next to him, also in his swimming gear but he looked confident and calm, which wasn't helping Harry's own nerves any.

Madame Maxime and Igor Karkaroff were standing with their students, whispering in their ears and no doubt giving them hints and tips. Buffy was standing back with the crowd but Harry knew that she was silently rooting for him, there to give him support.

Over in the stands sat the eager spectators, all of them cheering and laughing as they watched, and Harry found himself growing jealous of them, wearing their winter jackets while he froze, half naked.

The judges were sitting at a long table in front of the spectator stands. Dumbledore sat right in the middle, with Madame Maxime and Igor Karkaroff on either side of him, and then Ludo Bagman on the end. Once again Bartemius Crouch had failed to turn up due to being ill.

Professor Dumbledore stepped up from his seat and waited until everyone had quietened down before opening the task.

"Welcome everyone, to the second task of the Triwizard Tournament! Champions, as you may well know, something dear of yours has been taken and hidden below the water's edge. You have an hour to find it. Now begin!"

A loud bang echoed through the air and the champions all dived into the lake, albeit hesitantly in Harry's case.

While the other three champions vanished under the surface, Harry took the gillyweed and hastily shoved it into his mouth, swallowing it as quickly as he could to avoid the foul taste.

Moments later he was forced to dip under the water, strangely enough so that he could breathe properly. He placed a hand to his neck, were shallow cuts were beginning to swell up, gills that let him breath under the chilly water. And then finally he watched in fascination as his hands and feet stretched, becoming webbed like long flippers.

Using his new feet, he pushed through the water with ease, swimming faster than he ever imagined he could.

* * *

The water had cleared and was strangely silent and still on the surface as the rest of the school looked on, wondering which of the champions would be the first to rise back to the surface.

Buffy had taken a seat down on the walkway with the other teachers and the school nurse, ready to grab the students as they surfaced. She waited patiently, but all the while she couldn't help the worry that nagged at her mind.

With a gasp a figure broke through to the surface of the water, spluttering as they tried to make it back to the walkway. Madame Maxime was instantly on her feet, helping to pull Fleur back onto the land. As soon as the girl was away from the water she was wrapped in warm blankets and dragged to a seat.

"I couldn't do it!" She cried out, "Z'ere was too many!" She was stopped from speaking as the nurse came over to her and once again the water stilled, the audience quiet in anticipation.

Another shot rang out through the air, making the majority of spectators jump in the process, as the time limit of an hour finally passed.

Looking to the water nervously, Buffy spotted a figure slowly making their way through the water. Cedric's head popped up through the water, gasping for air as he dragged Cho along with him.

Seconds later Viktor also appeared, his shark's head slowly transforming back into a humans while Hermione swam beside him.

As the four of them were tugged out of the water and were pounced on by the nurse, Buffy looked out towards the water again, wishing desperately that Harry would appear.

The next few minutes went by so slowly... But then, finally, Harry emerged from the water, dragging Ron and Fleur's sister with him.

Buffy was the first to hold out her hand, pulling the young girl up first, who was instantly grabbed by her sister. Ron was helped out by Hermione as Buffy grabbed Harry's wrists and pulled him up, noticing how exhausted he looked.

When he was sitting on the dry walkway she threw a blanket around his shoulders. "You done great, Harry." She said while messing up his wet hair.

He let out an amused breath in reply, too tired to even glare at her like he normally would.

The judges were all talking quietly together at their table as the champions were slowly rounded up so that they were standing beside one another.

After what seemed like hours in Harry's exhausted mind, the judges turned back to give out their scores. They awarded Fleur the fewest points since she hadn't actually completed the task but had performed the bubble head charm well. Cedric naturally came first since he had been the first back to finish the task, and Viktor gained good marks even though he had been slightly over the time limit.

But Harry had not been expecting the marks he received. Forty five points, which earned him second place and put him in a great position for the overall tournament.


	16. Suspicions

**THE RETURN**

**Disclaimer:** All Btvs and HP characters belong to their respective owners and as always I'm not making any profit from this fic.

* * *

Chapter 16: Suspicions

"What are these?"

Buffy looked up to see Sirius standing at her desk, his palm full of the silly badges that the Slytherin students had made.

"'Potter stinks?' Why do you have these on your desk?" He asked as he stared at her, almost as if he was accusing her of making them.

She rolled her eyes at him, "It's just some stupid badges that the Slytherin kids made. I've been making them take them off every time I see one so I kinda have a drawer full of the things." She explained quickly, gesturing to said drawers.

"Ah..."

"I assume you didn't ask us to visit to tell us that..?" Remus said as he sat down in an empty chair. Once again the three of them had set up a small meeting in her classroom after dark, once the rest of the school was asleep.

"No, I had some news."

Sirius turned then so that he was facing the pair of them. "Harry already told us about the task. He seemed quite excited about being in second place."

"I know, he done really well. But that's not the reason I wanted to talk to you guys either." She said as she stood and began pacing the length of the aisle. "You said to watch out for any suspicious behaviour around the school."

Both of them straightened up slightly, listening intently.

"Harry told me that Ray helped him with the clue to the second task."

The puzzled looks she received back was not what she had been expecting.

"So what?" Sirius asked as he slumped back in his seat, almost as if he were dismissing her words before she had even had a chance to explain them.

"So, my point is he's the champions mentor, it goes against all the rules for him to just give away the answer like that."

"Well I think that's a bit hypocritical seeing as you helped Harry with the dragon..." Sirius replied slowly.

"It's completely different to that." She argued, "I helped him because he's like family to me, no he is family to me. What reason does Ray have to help?"

"Perhaps he was purely concerned that Harry hadn't worked out the clue so close to the task?" Remus said, making his statement come out as a question so that Buffy wouldn't think he too was dismissing her words.

"I don't believe that." She said instantly, crossing her arms.

"Or perhaps he told the others too? They're just not telling about it." Sirius suggested with a shrug.

"No, it was only Harry. I already spoke to Cedric and he said he worked out the clue himself before the holidays. I imagine the others did too."

"But you're not sure?" Her brother asked slowly, he looked a bit more thoughtful than Sirius, but it still bugged her that he wasn't taking her concerns seriously.

"No..."

"Buffy, you said yourself, Cedric already knew the clue and you think that the other two figured it out on their own." He answered. "I still think that Ray saw how behind Harry was and decided to just give him a helping hand. I mean, think of what could have happened if he hadn't."

"I suppose it's possible, yes. But I still don't like it. Why just Harry? Why not tell the others before they could work it out too? I'm telling you there's a reason he told Harry and not the others. There has to be something more behind it."

Sirius shrugged casually, "Well maybe he just likes Harry and wants him to win."

"Exactly, he obviously wants Harry to win. But why?"

Sirius scoffed and Remus groaned at his friend, watching his sister in concern. He could easily see the pair of them getting into another huge argument over this.

"Maybe he's a fan?"

"Or maybe he's the reason Harry is involved in all of this in the first place." She said, purposefully letting her frustration show in her voice.

"You think he put Harry's name in the Goblet of Fire?"

"Why not? There's obviously a reason for him to want Harry to be involved in the tournament. And if I remember correctly, he was the first person to suggest that Harry stayed in the competition after his name was pulled out from the goblet."

Sirius laughed from his seat, "So the guy's not even allowed to support Harry because that makes him a suspect?"

Remus shook his head slowly while sending his sister an apologetic look, "I'm sorry, Buffy, but I just can't see him doing that. For one he was in our year at school, he was friends with us and James and Lily. He was never a death eater or convicted of any crimes so he'd have no reason to go after Harry. And most of all he's from the ministry, I don't think they'd stoop that low-"

"Right, because they're really all innocent in everything they do!"

"Well of course you're a bit biased when it comes to the Ministry, they did want you dead after all..." Sirius replied quietly.

"Come on, you can't seriously be telling me you don't find any of this at all strange?" She cried while waving her arms around in annoyance.

"Sorry, but I just don't see any reasons for Ray to be involved."

"Nope, me neither. Sorry, Izzy."

"Ugh, fine. But I'm not letting this slip away. I'll just have to keep an eye on him myself." She said stubbornly as Sirius and Remus sighed, knowing that they were not going to stop her once she had made up her mind.

Remus and Sirius stood and sadly gathered their things. "If you hear any more then we can talk about it again. I just don't think we should be jumping to conclusions." Her brother told her as he walked towards her office, where the fireplace was.

She nodded as she watched the pair of them leave, her eyes narrowing on the empty doorway. Maybe she was jumping to conclusions. Maybe there was a completely normal reason for Ray to help Harry through the task. Maybe she was being a bit paranoid. But there was definitely something up with Ray, and even if it was just his rule breaking, she was determined to find out and find out why.

She stepped out from her classroom, slowly closing the door behind her and turning around, crying out in alarm as she walked straight into someone.

"Oh, I'm sorry I wasn't paying attention to where I was going."

She looked up at the sweet voice of Ray, who smiled down at her with an apologetic look.

"What are you doing hanging around outside my classroom?" She asked, keeping her voice low, almost in a threatening tone.

"Oh? I was just passing by and-"

"Do me a favour, Ray, and save the excuses for someone who'll believe them." With that she stalked away, not bothering to look over her shoulder to see his reaction.

Remus and Sirius might well be right about the man, but she wasn't willing to bet Harry's safety on it.

After all, if the man was completely innocent, why had he been standing outside her door, listening in to their conversation?

* * *

Harry sighed as he flipped his quill in between his fingers, drumming it on the book that he was using for his latest potions essay.

He was sitting up in his room, alone since his room-mates were all either downstairs in the common room or already snoring in their beds.

But he found that he couldn't concentrate on his homework and was quickly getting frustrated about it.

With a sigh he pushed his half written essay away from him and looked around the room, looking for something that would take his mind off it for a while. He would get back to his homework later.

His eyes spotted the Marauders map sitting just inside the trunk by his bed and with a grin he yanked it out and opened it up. He didn't rightly know why, but he always found some comfort in looking at the map, even if he wasn't using it to sneak around. It gave him a sense of power, being able to know where everyone was at any one time.

His eyes scanned the pages, finding his own name and then the names of his friends in their own rooms.

His eyes darted to Buffy's classroom, expecting to see her name sitting behind her desk like normal. But it wasn't Buffy's name that he found there.

Bartemius Crouch was in Buffy's classroom... But why?


	17. On A Mission

**THE RETURN**

**Disclaimer:** All Btvs and HP characters belong to their respective owners and as always I'm not making any profit from this fic.

Chapter 17: On A Mission

The next morning Buffy set to work, putting herself in the role of detective. She was determined to find out what was going on.

She watched Ray like a hawk during the breakfast meal, earning herself a few strange looks from fellow teachers all the while, but she didn't much care. Ray seemed completely oblivious to her staring and eventually left, just like he normally did once the table of ministry officials had all finished eating.

She'd been so focused on keeping an eye on the man that she rose from the table as he did, and followed him out into the corridor. A few teachers and students tried to stop and talk to her but they quickly gave up, giving her surprised looks after she pushed past them.

She kept a distance big enough between them so that he wouldn't get suspicious, but stayed close enough to watch his every move. She had followed him for a good twenty minutes as he walked through the castle, doing his everyday duties before finally he came to the temporary office that had been set up for himself, Ludo and Bartemius to use during their stay.

As soon as she had reached the office door it swung closed, blocking her view of the inside as well as stopping her investigation short. She sighed as she leaned against the wall, knowing that he probably wouldn't come back out for a while now.

She was just wondering when she would next be able to watch him again when suddenly the office door sprung open and Ray walked out, talking over his shoulder and not paying any attention to where he was going.

It happened so quickly that Buffy didn't have time to move out of the way before he barrelled into her, spilling the drink he was holding all down her front.

Buffy's mouth fell open as she was suddenly splattered in the strange brown liquid that quickly soaked through her shirt.

"Buffy! I'm so sorry! I wasn't-" Ray rambled on as he grabbed some tissue from his suit pocket and handed it to her.

She looked him in the eye to try and see if he meant it. His eyes were wide with surprise, and he did seem genuinely sorry for walking into her, but she couldn't help but notice how panicked he seemed all of a sudden.

"Ugh, what is this stuff?" She asked as she dabbed the tissues at her ruined shirt. "This had better come off."

"I'm sorry, you should get the elves to take a look at that." Ray said as he gestured to her ruined clothes, before charging down the corridor as if nothing had happened.

Feeling annoyed and slightly stupid, she stalked back to her own classroom intent on finding a clean shirt.

She had barely reached her door when she was stopped again, this time by Severus who was watching her with a strange expression.

"What are you staring at?" She almost growled, being in no mood for his usual brooding.

"Nothing. Did an experiment explode over you again?"

"Huh?"

He gestured to her shirt, now stained a dark brown colour.

"Oh no... Someone dropped something over me."

He took a step forward, pulling a chunk of brown goo off her shoulder and staring at it. "This looks like a potion... Though I couldn't tell you what it is from so little."

"A potion, huh? Thanks, Sev." She ran into her room before he could comment further.

By the time she had stepped back into her own classroom, wearing a brand new shirt and not covered in messy goo, she was already frustrated and tired. For every part of her that said she was wasting her time, another part reminded her of everything that had happened over the last few days.

It was a never-ending circle of self doubt and suspicion. And it wouldn't go away.

She slumped down in the chair behind her desk, leaning back to try and clear her mind when she spotted something.

There was an empty space on her desk where she had once put a small photograph in a frame. It was a personal favourite of hers, a photo that had been taken the day that Harry had first come to stay at Grimmauld place with her, Remus and Sirius.

And now it was gone, all traces of it vanished as if it hadn't even existed in the first place.

She frowned as she sat forward in her chair, staring at the empty spot. She pulled out one of the drawers and checked inside, often she would place the photo there during her lessons so that no one would see it. But the drawer had no photograph inside.

The door clicked opened as a mob of excitable students crammed through the entryway and Buffy pulled up her best smile, even if it was fake. Time for another day to start.

* * *

By the time lunch came around Buffy had all but forced the un-answered questions from her mind, instead concentrating on her students. She couldn't teach them properly if her mind wasn't in the right place after all, and she wasn't going to make them suffer because of her.

When the last student left the room she let out a breath and began clearing up the classroom. She put away all the extra textbooks and picked up any scraps of parchment that had been left before making her way from the room. She had barely stepped outside when Harry rushed down the hall towards her.

"Buffy, I need to speak to you. I think it's important."

She nodded, re-opening the door for him to enter the classroom before following him back inside.

"What is it?"

"I saw something strange last night." He said as he stopped in front of her, looking worried.

"What is it?" She said again, wishing that he would just hurry up and spill it already.

"I looked on the map and I saw Bartemius Crouch in here, in your classroom."

"Bartemius Crouch? What would he be doing here? I was under the impression that he was too ill to be at Hogwarts any longer." She said, not really expecting an answer from Harry. "Unless it was a lie..."

"I thought that too." He said with a nod, "I was so curious that I came down here to look. But I was stopped by Snape, he caught me sneaking around and by the time I got back here the room was empty."

She couldn't help the slight pang of annoyance that worked its way through her. Damn Severus for interrupting. She might have found some answers if he had left Harry to it.

But then again, there was no telling what Mr. Crouch had been doing in her room. She didn't like the idea of Harry getting himself into some kind of trouble for her sake.

"It's fine, Harry. Although this doesn't clear up anything." She paced up and down for a moment, knowing that Harry was watching her. She didn't know why, but pacing honestly helped her think sometimes.

"Harry, when you came in here last night did you notice anything different? Do you remember seeing our photo on my desk?" She asked, stopping and turning to face him.

His face scrunched up in thought, "I don't know. I wasn't really looking for it, I suppose. I do remember seeing it before, just not last night."

"Right..."

"Is everything all right, Buffy?"

She turned her face upwards and smiled at him, although the smile never reached her eyes. "Of course. Thank you for letting me know about this, Harry."

"No problem."

He was just turning to leave when a thought hit her.

"Oh, Harry. Can you do me a favour? Can I borrow the map for a bit? I just thought of something and it would come in handy."

He nodded, fishing through his bag and pulling out the familiar piece of parchment before handing it over. "Here, I hope it helps."

"Don't worry, it will." She replied with a genuine smile.


	18. Revealed

**THE RETURN**

**Disclaimer:** All Btvs and HP characters belong to their respective owners and as always I'm not making any profit from this fic.

Chapter 18: Revealed

As winter faded away, the snow and frost slowly melted, the chilly winds turned into a warm breeze and the castle began to warm up the closer the summer came.

Almost three months had passed now since the second task and Hogwarts was eagerly getting ready for the third and final task. This task would decide who the winner of the Triwizard tournament would be, and everyone was excited to see the tournament champion.

Buffy had spent the time taking every opportunity to check the Marauders map, but had never found anything suspicious through it. Bartemius Crouch had officially come back to the school to help with organising the third task, spending much of his time in his office. He didn't once step into her classroom or seem suspicious.

She'd watched Ray everywhere he went, but found it hard to keep track of him. She knew that he frequently left the castle to attend to other duties back at the Ministry and so he was hardly seen around the castle.

Nothing else had happened over the course of the few months, leading Buffy to believe that she had been wrong. As much as she didn't want to admit it, she had jumped to conclusions the moment something bad had happened. She guessed that he could have easily just been in the wrong place at the wrong time.

* * *

The day of the final task came around far too quickly for Harry, who had once again spent the majority of his time training up. Unfortunately this time he had no idea what he would be facing in the task. They had been told that he was to go into a maze along with the other champions, and that there would be obstacles and distractions in there to try and stop him. His aim would be to get to the Triwizard Cup, which would be in the middle of the maze.

He was standing in the room of requirement with Hermione, Ron and Buffy. His friends were pretending to attack him while Buffy watched on, constantly giving him pointers and advice.

Hermione stepped up, holding her wand out threateningly. As soon as her mouth opened he yelled out the disarming spell that he had been taught in his DADA classes, sending her wand flying from her hand.

"Good, although you need to be quicker." Buffy commented from her place, leaning against one of the training dummies. "Hermione was hesitating, a real attacker wouldn't."

Hermione seemed surprised that Buffy had observed her hesitation, but shrugged knowing that it was true. She bent to collect her wand while Ron had his turn at attacking.

Harry dodged Ron's first spell, sending a few of his own in his friend's direction before he cast a stunning spell, making sure not to make it too powerful. Ron's body lifted from the ground and flew backwards, landing hard on a pile of cushions that magically appeared from nowhere.

Ron stood with a groan, sending Buffy a smile. "Thanks, that would have hurt."

She grinned back in reply, gesturing for them to continue.

The group spent the majority of the day training, making sure that Harry knew as many spells that could help him through the task. Finally as the clock chimed around them they stood, looking up at the clock. It was time.

"You better get down to the quidditch field, it will be starting soon." Buffy told them as she walked forwards. "You've all done really well today."

"I feel a lot better after training." Harry said, suddenly feeling a wave of nervousness wash over him.

"Don't worry, you'll do just fine. I know you will." Buffy said, giving him a hug.

"Yeah, I always said you were gonna win." Ron nodded with a grin.

Hermione ran forward to hug Harry once he had pulled away from Buffy. "You'll be great in there, Harry."

"Thanks. Come on, we'd better go already."

He started walking towards the exit, his friends following after until he realised that Buffy wasn't following. "Aren't you coming, Buffy?"

"You guys go on, I'll catch up. I just need to clear out this room before anyone else finds it." She was already packing away the training equipment as the three students finally left.

It took her a few minutes but eventually, once the entire room was back to how she had found it, she walked outside, closing the doors and watching as they magically disappeared, fading back into the wall as if they had never been there in the first place.

She made her way through the castle, wanting to swing by her office and grab a jacket before she headed to the quidditch field where the final task was going to be held.

As she stepped up to her classroom she paused, her eyes scanning the open door which she had closed when she had last left the room. It had become a habit of hers over the last few months, the first way to tell if someone had been in her classroom. Of course it could have been a student looking for her, or another teacher or even Remus or Sirius, but seeing the door left open brought back some feelings she had tried hard to forget.

Holding her breath she pulled the door open further as quietly as she could, stepping inside the room while keeping her footsteps light.

Standing over by a bookshelf stood a familiar figure, though not dressed as she was accustomed to seeing him. Instead of his usual grey suits, Ray was dressed in all black, with a long leather coat that ran to the floor. The outfit didn't suit him at all.

He turned as he heard her enter, but instead of looking guilty or surprised, he gave her a smile, as if he had been expecting her to turn up.

"What are you doing in here?" She asked, placing her hands on her hips as she stood in the doorway.

"I was just looking for a book that-"

"I wouldn't even bother if I were you, save yourself the trouble and just tell me the truth already."

His expression remained calm and neutral for a moment, not denying the lies that she was accusing him of. His eyes searched hers for a moment before he broke out into a laugh. "I see, although I can't say I'm not surprised. Of all the powerful wizards here, I never thought that it would be you who figured me out... At least not before I figured you out first."

She frowned at his words, "What are you talking about?"

He laughed again, the harsh sound seeming foreign coming from him. "It seems I'm not the only one keeping secrets. I just haven't quite worked yours out yet. But I will."

"And what makes you think I have secrets?" She asked carefully.

Seeing the threatening look in her eyes he grinned. "Oh I knew there was something off about you from the moment I met you. You're just too close to Harry, too willing to protect him. Every time I came near him you were there, watching. You were too big a threat to my plans so I had to investigate."

She kept quiet as he talked, trying to act as if he was wrong, even though he was right about everything.

"Firstly there was your name... There was never a Buffy Summers at Hogwarts before, and certainly not in the Black family tree like your friend suggested. And speaking of your friend, he called you by another name once, 'Izzy' I believe. He also spoke of a connection between yourself and the ministry. Now why would they want you, of all people, dead unless you had something to hide? You're not who you are pretending to be, something we have in common."

Her answering gasp seemed to amuse him, his eyes lighting up in delight. "Then you're not ..?"

His laugh brought a shiver running down her spine, "How disappointing, I thought you would have known that by now... No, I'm not Ray Silverthorn. But no worries, it is only a matter of time before everyone finds out. Once they find the real Ray."

"What did you do to him?"

"Why do you care? You've never met the man."

Buffy cautiously took a step forward, "So if you're not Ray, then who the hell are you?"

He smirked, "Ah, so you haven't worked it out yet." He stepped closer to her then, his posture full of arrogance and power, as if he knew he was unstoppable. "My name is Barty Crouch... Junior."

She couldn't help the way her mouth fell open in shock. This man was Bartemius Crouch's son, the one who had been put away in Azkaban until his supposed death. He was a death eater, a fierce supporter of Voldemort. He had to be stopped.

"The potion... It was polyjuice potion." She told herself, watching as he nodded, looking far too happy for her liking.

"Then you are after Harry." She said, her tone low. She felt annoyed that she hadn't trusted her instincts before now, she had been right all along about him. Her eyes narrowed, a small smirk playing on her lips as she looked him in the eyes. "I can't say I'm too broken up about spoiling your plans though."

He laughed again, enjoying the determination on her face. "Spoiling? Oh no, the fun is only just beginning. You see, the whole time you've been standing here talking, poor Harry has been fighting inside that maze, trying to find the Twriwizard cup, a portkey that I created. And when he wins, which he will, the world will know true darkness again... And the Dark Lord will rise and The Boy Who Lived will finally die!"

Buffy gasped as his words registered. She had to stop the task, she had to stop Harry from winning.

She spun and lunged towards the door, but it magically slammed shut before she could reach it. She paused, knowing that she could easily just yank the door open and make a run for it, but did she really want a crazed death eater loose in the castle? She would just have to deal with him as quickly as she could, and hope that she could get to the quidditch field before the task ended.

Turning slowly, she caught sight of Ray's grin, his wand held out at her. "It has already started, there's nothing you can do to stop it now."

"Maybe not..." She took a step forward. He thought he had her cornered, he thought she would hesitate to fight back. It was time to show him how wrong he was. "But beating you to a pulp will make me feel so much better." Her hand darted to her pocket and pulled out her wand. Obviously he had the upper hand since he was already armed and ready, so instantly she was forced to move or get hit by a jet of red light.

A black, scorched hole was now in the middle of her door where the spell had hit. She stared at it with narrowed eyes, "Okay, you can insult me, you can even fire spells at me, but you start messing up my classroom and you're gonna pay!"

He wasn't paying attention to what she was saying, in fact he had lowered his wand completely. For a moment she stared at him in wonder, until she saw something flicker beneath his face. She realised then, he was turning back into himself, the polyjuice potion was wearing off.

His hair slowly darkened, growing longer and thicker until it fell to his shoulders. His blue eyes turned to dark brown, his features changing completely until there he stood before her, a completely different man. The real Barty Crouch.

She wasted no time, holding out her wand and sending a few spells at him. Blue jets clashed with red as his own spells faced against hers. A shimmering barrier appeared around him and he stood there, laughing as her spells reflected off of it, bouncing back towards her.

With a growl she slid her wand back in her pocket. She was no where near as good with her spells as he was so what was the point in trying to beat him with a wand? She didn't need a wand.

The move surprised him, and he stepped backwards slightly as she charged forwards. Again he shot off some spells, but she dodged, diving out of the way of one, rising to place her fist in his face. The barrier only deflected magical attacks, and her fist flew straight through it.

He dodged her next attack, but he was slow. Obviously he was not used to fighting up close and personal. He attempted to punch her back but she grabbed his closed fist and slammed it back into his own face, breaking bone and spilling blood from the force.

He staggered back, giving himself enough room to hold out his wand once more. He growled out his words, "Crucio!"

She let her legs spread underneath her, her body falling and the spell flying harmlessly over the top of her head. Planting her hands behind her she flipped back up, kicking him in the chest in the process.

Again he stumbled back, crying out in pain and frustration, his wand rising back up to her. She ducked the first spell he sent, but the Cruciatus curse hit her shoulder, sending her flying backwards, crashing into various desks that skid across the room with her. She yelled out as a pain like no other spread through her body like a lightning bolt, but it didn't last long.

Shaking the horrible feeling away she scrambled up from the floor, instantly dodging more spells. She was advancing on him again, a fierce look in her eyes. He must have recognised it, as he changed tactics.

"Avada Kedavra!" A shot of green light flew straight for her, and she couldn't help her surprise. He meant to kill her, not just stop her or distract her, he actually wanted her dead now.

She gasped, diving to the side to avoid the spell. She fell onto her desk, flipping over it so that it stood between them. With an almighty shove she pushed it towards him. His next spell sent it flying away just seconds before it would have crushed him, but the distraction had served its purpose. Buffy lunged at him, using her weight to bring him down underneath her. His head smacked against the floor with a loud thud, his wand falling from his grasp as Buffy looked down upon his unconscious form.

She stood, looking down at the man in disgust. She couldn't just leave him there, and yet she couldn't waste any time in getting to Harry. Really she had no choice.

What was the capture of one death eater compared to Harry's life?

She spun, her legs taking her through the corridors as quickly as she could manage. Luckily the hallways were empty since everyone had gone to watch the task.

She skidded around corners, racing through the familiar halls until she came to the entrance that would take her down to the quidditch field. In the distance she could see the tall hedges rising upwards, hear the crowd as they roared in excitement.

She sped into the clearing, stopping before a surprised Dumbledore who was still standing in the middle of the small stage.

"Buffy, what's-"

"Where's Harry?" She yelled over the loud cheering, completely terrified at the thought of being too late. "Please tell me the task hasn't started!"

Dumbledore only looked at her strangely, before he pointed out towards the maze. "The task has indeed begun. The champions are already inside."

She found herself looking up at the rows of dark hedges with horror on her face. If Harry won the task, if he found the cup before one of the others, he would come face to face with Voldemort.

And there was nothing she could do to stop it.

She was too late...

* * *

**A/N:** Ah finally the truth is out, I'm sure you probably all saw it coming a mile off. Anyway, I just wanted to say (before any of you point it out to me), I'm pretty sure that the book explains how one can only use the polyjuice potion to become someone else, if that someone else is alive... Which, if you've read Found, you would know is not the case in this story. So I'm scrapping that rule :). Oh and also I was using the movie version on Barty rather than the book version. Every time I think of Barty I see David Tennant...


	19. The Final Task

**THE RETURN**

**Disclaimer:** All Btvs and HP characters belong to their respective owners and as always I'm not making any profit from this fic.

* * *

Chapter 19: The Final Task

He awoke with a loud groan, his head throbbing in pain from where it had hit the hard floor. For a moment all he could see was darkness, and then slowly it faded away like a cloud of dust and he saw that he was lying on the floor of a classroom, his body aching all over.

His eyes scanned the silent room, he was alone for the moment.

He stayed completely still for a few minutes, just re-adjusting to the pain while he remembered the fight, remembered everything that had been said between them.

She had never denied that she was hiding something. She fought with her hands and her strength was incredible, so much more than he had expected from her. He would find out just who she was, he wouldn't rest until he knew exactly who he had faced, who had beaten him.

His arm lifted and he squinted up at his watch. It was almost time.

Standing slowly, using a nearby table to support his weigh, he stumbled into the connecting office and to the fireplace. There was somewhere he had to be.

* * *

Harry's breath came out in ragged pants as he raced through the darkened maze, completely lost and confused.

He didn't know how long he had been inside the maze now, but it felt as though he had been walking for hours, walking in circles... Or was that just the maze confusing him?

He had already come across a few creatures in the maze, but they had been easy enough to get past. He knew the main threat in this maze would be the other contestants and so far he had yet to meet any of them.

The further he walked the more hopeless he felt, and with every dead-end he came across he felt his spirits drain. There was no way he was going to find the cup now, not when the other champions were quicker, smarter, older...

He stumbled on a lone branch as he walked, his wand held out in one hand while the other traced the edges of the maze walls. Once again he came to a crossroads, and using his wand to point him north, he took the path on the right.

He walked on for another few minutes down a long pathway, the leaves rustling on either side of him as he passed. Another turn and another dead-end.

With a frustrated sigh, he backtracked and continued on in the direction he hadn't been before, stopping suddenly when a shrill cry echoed around him.

The noise was unmistakable, it was the sound of a girl screaming and that meant it was Fleur. He picked up his pace until he was jogging through the walls of leaves, finally stopping when he spotted her limp form laying on the ground, her face contorted into a look of terror.

He quickly checked her pulse, and thankfully she was still breathing perfectly. Obviously she had been stunned. The maze, which up until now had been quite noisy with the wind rustling the leaves, was suddenly silent, as if even the wind was holding its breath in anticipation.

The sudden snap of a twig had Harry spinning, coming face to face with Viktor. He was holding out his wand, his eyes white and glazed over. He was bewitched.

Viktor shot a spell his way but Harry dodged it, calling out his own disarming spell just like he had been practising that morning. "Expelliarmus!"

Viktor's wand flew through the air and the Durmstrang student disappeared around the nearest corner. Either he was running from Harry or he was preparing himself to attack again. Either way, Harry didn't want to stand around and wait.

He chanced a look behind him, and gasped in surprise to find that Fleur's body had completely vanished.

What was going on in this place?

Harry shook his head to clear his mind as he continued on, making sure to keep extra focused in case Viktor should pop up again.

After another few dead ends Harry was forced to take the only path available, and feeling a surge of power he rushed through it. Maybe it was just the maze messing around with his mind, but he could feel it now, he could tell he was almost there, almost champion.

He was getting so excited about finishing the task that he failed to notice Cedric, who was rushing down another path just opposite him. The pair stopped together, barely inches away from slamming into one another, and both of their gazes were drawn to another connecting path, where a brilliant blue light filled their vision.

With gasps the pair ran together, battling against each other to try and reach the light first. Cedric fell behind and reached out, grabbing Harry by the shirt and pulling him backwards until the older student was in front.

Harry urged his legs to move quicker as he shoved Cedric against the maze wall, watching in satisfaction as he tripped and fell to the floor.

"Harry!"

He turned at the last minute, watching as Cedric struggled on the ground. Long strands of leaves and twigs were trying to pull him into the foliage, branches twisted around his arms and ankles, tugging him into the maze walls.

Harry turned his gaze back to the light. He was so close now, he could see the Triwizard cup in the distance. He should just leave Cedric and take the cup for his own, right?

But he couldn't help how his conscience told him otherwise. With a sigh he lifted up his wand and blasted the branches away from Cedric before running to his side, helping to pull him up to his feet.

"Thank you, Harry. For a moment there I didn't think you was going to help me." Cedric said as he brushed himself down.

"No, neither did I." Harry replied breathlessly, his gaze turning back to the cup. All of a sudden it didn't matter quite as much who won. He would be happy coming in second place, he would happily cheer for Cedric if he won.

The pair walked over to the cup, both of them staring at it in awe. "You take it." Harry told Cedric, his eyes never leaving the glowing cup.

Cedric shook his head, "No, you saved me. You deserve it."

"But..." Harry shook his head, neither of them would be happy taking it for themselves now. "Let's both take it, together." Cedric nodded his agreement and the two of them counted down from three, the both of them lunging at the cup at the same time.

Instantly Harry gasped, feeling as if he was being pulled upwards, his vision blurred as if time was speeding by without him.

And seconds later he fell to the ground, the cup still in his grasp. Cedric on the other side, his hand on the base of the cup.

"What happened?" Cedric panted as he finally let go, getting back to his feet and looking around. They appeared to be in a graveyard in the middle of night, and all alone. They had definitely moved away from Hogwarts.

Harry stared down at the cup, recognition dawning on him. "A portkey, the cup is a portkey."

"But why? Why would they bring us here? Unless this is part of the task..."

Harry was about to answer when a cry rang out into the night. Before either could react a jet of green light appeared, soaring through the air until it hit Cedric in the chest. Instantly his body slumped to the ground, and Harry moved forwards until he was kneeling at Cedric's side.

His hands shook in fear as he gently nudged Cedric, unable to believe that he was really gone. But the spell had killed him in an instant, and Harry realised almost too late that it wasn't a test anymore, it was real.

Harry's eyes, burning with tears, lifted to scan the darkness. If he could see who had done this, he would be able to stop them, to avenge Cedric. And then he spotted someone standing between the gravestones. Slowly the man emerged from the darkness, his dark hair hanging in his eyes as he walked.

"Welcome, Harry Potter, to the end."

The man threw back his head and laughed, although stopping abruptly, as if the motion caused him pain. His mouth twisted into a grimace before he held up his hand once again, and Harry was lifted off his feet and slammed into a stone statue.

The statue's arms moved on their own accord, grabbing at Harry and holding him in place. He struggled as the man advanced on him, holding a wicked looking knife.

"Tonight, Harry, your blood will bring back the all powerful master. Nothing shall stand in his way, not even you. Tonight you will die, and the Dark Lord shall rise."


	20. The Return

**THE RETURN**

**Disclaimer:** All Btvs and HP characters belong to their respective owners and as always I'm not making any profit from this fic.

* * *

Chapter 20: The Return

He could hear someone screaming.

It took him a few moments to realise the sound was coming from his own lips. This couldn't be happening to him, it just couldn't.

"Why are you doing this?! Why kill Cedric?!"

The man who had captured him had stepped away, ignoring Harry's yells as he conjured up a large cauldron and set a fire underneath.

Once the mixture inside the bowl was beginning to boil the man stepped away, disappearing out of Harry's field of vision.

Struggling against the statues unnatural grip, Harry cried out in frustration and fear, his heart pounding in his chest. There was no way he could escape, and he had dropped his wand at his feet when the statue had grabbed him. If what the man said was true, he was trying to bring Voldemort back, and Harry would be unable to defend himself.

The dark haired man came back into his vision, carrying what looked like a bundle of cloths, but the closer he came, the more Harry came to realise how wrong that assumption was.

As the truth was finally dawning on him, a searing pain ran through Harry's head, making him cry out once again. The scar on his forehead was burning, he had never felt anything like it before.

The man dropped the bundle of robes into the cauldron, grinning the entire time. There was a loud splash and the man searched inside the cauldron with his eyes, before they raised up to stare towards Harry. Holding his wand out the man muttered under his breath.

"Bone of the father, unknowingly given. You will renew your son!"

Harry watched as the stone beneath his feet cracked open, and a handful of dust floated through the air and into the cauldron.

The sudden flash of silver alerted Harry to the dagger that was once again in the man's hand, but as Harry struggled to free himself he realised that the blade was not meant for him.

"Flesh of the servant, willingly given. You will revive your master."

The man stood beside the Cauldron and lifted up his arm, tugging up the sleeve of his jacket until it reached his elbow. His hand with the dagger rose upwards, and in one quick motion he had sliced off his hand, the dagger easily cutting through flesh and bone.

The severed hand fell into the cauldron with a loud splash. Grabbing up his wand in his other hand, he groaned as he magically wrapped his blooded arm in bandages. Then fishing deep down into his pocket, the man pulled out a small vial of purple liquid and poured it down his throat.

Harry felt ill as he watched. The man had just cut his own hand off and had acted as if it hadn't even hurt! Just who was this man?

Once the dagger was back in his hand, the stranger's eyes shot back up to Harry, that grin playing on his lips again.

He knew there was no chance of escaping, and yet he still struggled within the statues grip, his eyes never leaving the advancing man. Once he was within reaching distance, the man tugged Harry's sleeve just as he had done to his own, before grabbing Harry's arm and holding it in a vice like grip.

"Blood of the enemy forcibly taken. You will resurrect your foe."

The blade was suddenly pressed against Harry's skin and a thin trickle of blood ran down his arm. Leaning backwards, the man laughed as he stepped back to the cauldron, raising the dagger over the mixture and waiting for a few drops of blood to fall.

The mixture began bubbling, sparks of green flying everywhere. After a few long seconds, the liquid turned pure white.

The man stepped back, never taking his eyes away from the cauldron as he knelt down, slightly bowing his head in silent respect. And moments later a white figure rose inside the cauldron.

Harry's eyes widened in fear as the mixture began to slip away from the figure, revealing the person underneath. They were tall, their skin a pale white while their eyes gleamed dark, blood red.

Voldemort had returned.

"My Lord." The man kneeling on the floor seemed to shrink even more, his head ducking lower.

Voldemort looked over the man's head, his eyes taking in Harry, who was silently wincing, his head once again alight with pain.

"You may rise." Voldemort's voice was cold and cruel as he stared at his servant, watching as the man got back to his feet before he began to study his own body, holding his hands and arms out in front of himself for inspection. "You have done well, Barty. You will be rewarded greatly for this."

"Thank you, my Lord."

"But first, your arm..."

Barty nodded, stepping over to Voldemort until they were right next to each other and holding out his uninjured arm.

Voldemort roughly pulled up his sleeve revealing the faded tattoo, the dark mark, before pressing his index finger to it.

"It is back. They will all have noticed it, and now we shall see. How many will be brave enough to return to me, I wonder?"

Barty hissed in disgust as he stepped away from Voldemort. "They will be fools to ignore your call."

Voldemort's eyes travelled over to Harry, and a small smirk pulled at his lips. "You stand, Harry Potter, upon the remains of my late father, a muggle and a fool... Very much like your own mother. But they both had their uses, did they not? Your mother died to defend you as a child, and I killed my father. And see how useful he has proven himself, in death."

Another shot of pain ran through Harry's mind, making him cry out. Which in turn made Voldemort and Barty laugh.

"Ah but look, Harry. My true family returns..."

Forcing himself to ignore the pain, Harry turned his eyes to the sky where various plumes of black smoke were shooting towards them. Then one by one, they hit the ground and a figure, dressed all in black with a mask covering their faces, stepped out onto the grass.

As one they bowed to Voldemort, some of them looking to him in awe whereas others looked terrified. Together they stepped apart so that they formed a large circle, although there were various gaps within it, with Voldemort, Barty and Harry in the middle.

Barty then joined them and took up an empty place, his grin was still firmly in place.

"Welcome, Death eaters. Thirteen long years have passed since we last met. Though you all answer my call as if it were yesterday. We are still united under the dark mark, are we not?"

The death eaters stayed silent and still, some of them turning their gazes to their shoes.

"I smell guilt." Voldemort sighed as he stared at them all, one at a time. "I see you all here, whole and healthy... And yet I begin to wonder, why did this band of wizards never come to the aid of their master? Did they truly believe I was gone? Perhaps they believed a still greater power existed and now pay allegiance to another..."

A lone death eater rushed forward, "Forgive me, master. Forgive us all!"

He was met with Voldemort's wand trailing on him. "You ask for forgiveness? I do not forgive, I do not forget. Crucio!"

Harry let out a gasp as he watched the man fall to his knees, crying out as the pain of the Cruciatus curse ran through his body.

Voldemort lifted the spell and glared at the man, who trembled on his hands and knees, pulling back to re-join the others in the circle.

"I want thirteen years of repayment from each of you before I forgive you." Voldemort turned to walk around the circle, taking in each of the death eaters before he stopped in front of Barty, who looked angry and annoyed.

"That's it? You're not going to punish them? I am the only true servant here, master. It was I and I alone who allowed myself to be locked up in Azkaban rather than renounce my support of you, while these cowards hid away."

"That is enough, Barty." Voldemort's tone left no room for argument and the man quickly quietened down. "They will be punished, do not doubt that."

The other death eaters shuffled in their places but Voldemort ignored them, his attention on Barty now.

"However, you are correct. Of all here, you are the only one to have continued to support me. It is down to you that I walk here tonight... And it was through your efforts that our young friend arrived tonight also."

Harry felt his heart racing as all eyes turned to stare at him.

"How foolish it was to suppose that this boy could ever have beaten me..." Voldemort laughed, "I want no mistake in anybody's mind, so I am going to prove my power by killing him tonight, here right in front of you all."

The statue's grip on Harry suddenly loosened and he fell to the floor, his legs giving way under him until he was sitting on the ground.

His wand was right next to him now, and he would at least be able to try and defend himself. But what could he possibly do to stop Voldemort? And if by some miracle, he did manage to stop Voldemort, there was still so many death eaters there surrounding him.

There was no escape, this was the end... It had to be.

Rising to his feet, Harry grabbed up his wand and faced his old enemy. If this was the day he died, then he was going to face his death, he was going to fight to the end, just like his father had.

"You have been taught how to duel, yes?" Voldemort asked as he took up his place opposite Harry. "First we bow."

As Voldemort lowered down to bow, Harry shook his head and stubbornly refused to move. He saw Voldemort's eyes narrow into slits as he came back to full height.

"I said, bow."

Harry couldn't help how his body moved on its own accord, as if he were a mere puppet and Voldemort was his puppet-master, pulling on his strings.

"Very good." Voldemort laughed, and the death eaters laughed with him. "And now, we duel."

As his opponent raised his wand, Harry dived to the side and the curse flew over the top of his head, hitting the stone statue and breaking a chunk of stone away from it.

Again Voldemort flung a jet of light at him, but using the techniques Buffy had taught him, Harry dodged it and ran behind the statue, using it to cover himself. He could hear the death eaters laughter as he steadied himself.

"We are not playing hide and seek, Harry." Came Voldemort's frustrated voice. "You cannot hide from me."

Knowing that he would walk around the statue to corner him, Harry took a deep breath and flung himself away from the stone, hoping to catch Voldemort by surprise.

Instantly he yelled out the only spell he could think of, the disarming spell. But at the same time Voldemort's voice boomed through the air, calling out the killing curse.

Voldemort's green bolt of light flew towards him, clashing with Harry's spell in mid air. Somehow the spells connected to each other, and the two moulded into one, so that one long beam spread from Harry's wand to Voldemort's.

He had never seen anything like it before, and he almost dropped his wand in shock alone, but Harry stood his ground and continued to concentrate. He had no idea how or why it was happening, but he wasn't dead yet, and that meant he would continue fighting.

Great shoots of light sprung out from the beam of light, almost like lightning bolts as the surprised death eaters watched with wide eyes. Some of them tried to move, but Voldemort calmly told them to stay where they were.

Harry's wand was vibrating so violently he was having trouble keeping a hold of it, and had to use both hands just to keep it steady. And yet at the same time he noticed that Voldemort's own wand was also shuddering under the pressure.

Suddenly a loud pop sounded in the air, and even though he kept his attention focused on Voldemort, Harry couldn't help the small sigh of relief that fell from his lips at the sight in front of him.

In the middle of the graveyard stood Sirius, Buffy and Remus, their shocked eyes taking in the scene in front of them.

Almost instantly there was a yell from one of the death eaters surrounding him, and Harry recognised the voice to belong to Barty. "You! How did you-"

Voldemort growled as his eyes took in the newcomers, "Leave the boy to me. Make sure _they_ don't leave alive."

The silent death eaters sprung into action, and Harry's rescuers were forced to fight back. He could see the death eaters running around out of the corner of his eyes, see the flash of blonde as Buffy used both her wand and her fists to fight. He could hear the growls and grunts as they battled around him.

Jets of different coloured light flew through the air, some of them barely missing Harry and Voldemort who were still locked together, not taking their eyes away from the other.

Harry watched the beam of light between them, only then noticing a small bead of energy that sat in the middle of them. Voldemort obviously noticed it just then too as he mentally forced his power into the beam, sending the bead towards Harry.

He didn't know what would happen if the bead touched his wand, but the closer it came the harder it was to hold onto his spell. Harry growled as he tried to push the bead back the way it came, and thankfully, it began to slowly move back towards Voldemort.

It came so close to touching his wand, before he finally registered what Harry was up to, and forced his own energy into it to make it move back. But a sudden yell caught both of their attentions, and Harry turned to see a death eater fall to the floor after being stunned. One by one, the death eaters were slowly falling, their numbers becoming less and less.

Harry turned back to Voldemort, noticing how his snake-like enemy was still watching the ensuing fight rather than focusing on their connected wands. Harry took the opportunity to send the bead flying straight into Voldemort.

He had been expecting an explosion or the kind of reaction to send Voldemort flying backwards... What he hadn't expected was for the bead of energy to evaporate before his very eyes, the smoke rising into the air in small wisps.

Voldemort looked just as confused as he watched too. Slowly the smoke grew until the wisps became huge shapes floating in the air. Harry watched in awe as each slowly took the shape of a human figure. One was an old man, another a familiar woman, then there was one that looked exactly like Cedric. And then his mother and father were there, standing before him with smiles on their faces.

"Hold on, Harry." Came his mother's soothing voice, "It'll be all right, just hold on."

He had no idea how they were there, or even what they were. Were they ghosts? Reflections of the people Voldemort had killed? He didn't know and he didn't understand, but he listened to them anyway.

His father nodded to him, "When the connection is broken we will linger for only moments... But we will give you enough time. You must get away, do you understand, Harry?"

He barely choked out his words, "Yes, I understand."

"Harry." He turned to Cedric who was looking at him with a straight, almost saddened face. "Take my body back to my parents, won't you?"

"I will."

"It is time, Harry." His mother urged, "Let go."

"Right!" Snapping his eyes away from his parents' faces, he caught gazes with Buffy and Remus, who were watching the scene with mixed expressions on their faces.

They nodded together and Harry let out a yell as he pulled his wand away from the beam of light, breaking it in two and severing the connection.

He spotted Sirius standing in the distance, holding Cedric's lifeless body in his arms. With a loud pop, he was gone.

Harry ran towards Buffy and Remus, holding out his hands to try and reach them quicker. He knew Voldemort was right behind him, yelling and crying out in anger.

His outstretched fingers grasped Buffy's hand, and she tugged him towards her as her other hand reached out for Remus'. And in an instant Harry felt himself lifted from the ground, the world spinning around him.

He was safe now.

But for how long?


	21. Just The Beginning

**THE RETURN**

**Disclaimer:** All Btvs and HP characters belong to their respective owners and as always I'm not making any profit from this fic.

**A/N:** Okay so whenever I write a new chapter for this fic I forget to upload it onto this site, (opps) so I'm very sorry for the long, long delay in you guys reading this. I'm gonna try and get all the chapters up (since I'm much further ahead now) so you shouldn't have too long to wait. Thank you to anyone still reading this anyway :)

* * *

Chapter 21: Just the Beginning

Harry felt numb. He couldn't feel his hands or his legs, couldn't do anything other than sit in the chair and stare at Dumbledore.

"Harry? Did you hear me?"

"Yes..." He had heard Dumbledore clearly as he told him that he was the winner of the Triwizard Tournament, that he was the so called 'Champion' and that he had won all these prizes...

A few short days ago and he would have been jumping for joy if he had been told it... But now, after everything that had happened... He just didn't have it in him to care.

He didn't deserve to win. Cedric should have won. Cedric should have lived. It was his fault he had died, because they had argued over the cup. If Harry had been selfish, if he hadn't stopped to help Cedric and had instead taken the cup for his own, Cedric would still be alive.

It had been his suggestion for them both to take it...

It had been his fault.

"You won the competition fairly, Harry. You deserve the reward." Dumbledore told him, watching him closely with a look that said he knew exactly what was on Harry's mind.

Besides the head teacher stood Madame Maxime, who looked slightly annoyed that he wasn't getting excited about winning.

"I don't deserve it." He told them softly, his eyes finally meeting those of his headmaster. "I had help in all of the tasks, I didn't play by the rules so I shouldn't win!"

Madame Maxime looked hopeful for a moment but Dumbledore stalled any comment she might make. "Harry, you had the highest score of all the contestants, you are the winner."

Harry sighed, knowing that he would not win this fight, so he slumped back into his seat and stared around the room. He hardly paid attention as Dumbledore softly asked Madame Maxime to leave.

"Harry, you should not hold yourself accountable for Cedric's death. Barty Crouch killed him in Voldemort's place. If you should feel anything, it should be anger at them. Do not blame yourself."

"How can I not? It's my fault that he died. It's my fault that Voldemort is back."

Dumbledore sighed, "Harry, nothing is your fault. There was nothing you could have done to stop this, not when it took us so long to realise what was happening. They were well prepared for this.. And unfortunately we were not. Barty Crouch took on Mr. Silverthorn's identity, we had no way to know he was not who he said he was."

"How did you work it out?"

"You will have to ask Buffy for the answer to that one, I'm afraid. She let me know as soon as she could, and after much searching through the maze we found no trace of either you or Cedric. We instantly knew you were no longer at Hogwarts. Buffy left for Grimmauld Place before we could stop her, but it is a good thing she did."

Harry sighed, suddenly feeling as though he wanted to be somewhere, anywhere away from there. "Can I go now?"

Dumbledore nodded and Harry sped from the office as quickly as he could. He didn't want to talk about it anymore, didn't want people telling him he wasn't at fault when he knew he was. They hadn't been there, they had no idea what he had been through.

He rushed through the halls so quickly he didn't pay any attention to where he was going, and stumbled as he almost walked into someone.

Buffy grabbed him by the shoulders just before he could barge into her. "Harry, what's wrong?"

"Oh... I just... needed some time away, I guess."

She nodded in understanding, "It's okay, I get it, some alone time is good. But don't cut people out of your life, Harry. Your friends all understand."

"I know, and I'm grateful for that." He said with a small smile, his first since that night.

Buffy studied him curiously. He looked as if he wanted to run and be on his own, and yet at the same time he seemed scared to be on his own. "Are you sure you're okay?"

He nodded, "Yeah. So am I allowed to come and stay with you guys again over the holidays? You've not all had enough of me, right?"

She realised he had purposefully changed the subject but went along with it. "Of course you're welcome to stay with us, we wouldn't have it any other way. But you know you have to go to your aunt and uncles first, just for a few weeks."

"I was afraid you would say that."

She laughed softly, clapping him on the shoulder as they walked through the corridor together.

* * *

It was the last day of term, and the rain had been falling since early that morning. The sky was dark and grey, perfectly reflecting the feeling of the many students and teachers alike who had silently gathered outside in the castle grounds.

Dumbledore stood up on a small wooden platform that overlooked the lake as he spoke a few words in remembrance of Cedric, having wanted the students to have time to mourn the loss of their friend.

"Today we acknowledge a really terrible loss. Cedric Diggory was exceptionally hard working, intricately fair minded, and most importantly a fierce fierce friend. I think therefore you have the right to know exactly how he died."

Harry was standing in the crowd with Ron and Hermione, watching with saddened eyes as students around him cried and leaned on each other. Everyone had been hit hard by Cedric's death as he had been such a well liked person.

"You see, Cedric Diggory was murdered by Lord Voldemort. The ministry of magic does not wish me to tell you this. But not to do so I think would be an insult to his memory. Now the pain we all feel at this dreadful loss reminds me, reminds us that while we may come from different places and speak in different tongues, our hearts beat as one. In light of recent events the bonds of friendship we made this year will be more important than ever. Remember that and Cedric Diggory will not have died in vain. And we'll celebrate a boy who was kind and honest and brave and true right to the very end."

The students remained quiet as he stepped down from the stands, disappearing back into the castle.

"Are you okay?"

Buffy looked up from the ground, where her gaze had been lingering, and to Sirius who was staring at her with concern. "I'm fine." Her voice seemed strained even to her own ears, and she knew he would pick up on it, but he only nodded.

On her other side she felt Remus squeeze her hand and sent him a small smile, thankful to have the both of them there with her.

As the students slowly began to file out of the clearing, they spotted Harry standing over to one side looking to be deep in thought. Sending the siblings a small saddened smile, Sirius stepped over to his godson so that he wouldn't be alone.

"There's something on your mind, isn't there?" Remus asked quietly, "Something other than Cedric."

She sighed as she looked up at her older brother. "I'm just thinking... This is it, isn't it? This is how the war begins... Again."

He looked away, out over the lake as he sighed. "We survived the last war, and we're older and wiser now... We can do it again."

She shook her head slowly, "But it's not down to us. We may well be the soldiers in this war, but it's Harry who will have all of this landing on his shoulders. I'm just... I guess I'm scared. I didn't get the chance to fight last time, and look what happened."

"We won't let that happen again. I won't let that happen again." He gave her hand another squeeze.

"I really hope you're right..." She let her gaze fall back over the lake in the distance. "Because I can't shake the feeling that something bad is coming..."

* * *

"How could you have let this happen?!"

"My Lord! We tried, we did. But they caught us by surprise!" The man's voice cut off abruptly to be replaced by a loud shrieking noise.

The death eater crumpled to the floor, his body broken from the pain that his master was inflicting as the others watched on, their eyes wide in shock, silently fearing that they would be the next to suffer.

Voldemort turned his back on his servants, "Go, get out of my sight!"

He heard them leave, the small cracking sounds telling him that they had all apparated away. When he turned back, there was just one death eater left.

"My Lord." Barty bowed down to Voldemort, who quickly took a seat on the small throne-like chair in the room.

"The people who ruined my plans... I want to know who they are."

Barty rose back to his feet and nodded. "My time at Hogwarts was well spent investigating into the people there. The men are Sirius Black and Remus Lupin. They were friends with Potter's parents. But the woman... She goes by the name of Buffy Summers."

"Goes by? You are insinuating that she uses an alias..."

"I have searched everywhere for mention of her, and yet I have not found her name in any records."

"And what do you know about her?" Voldemort asked, his red eyes narrowing.

"She is the Defence Against the Dark Arts teacher at Hogwarts and is very close to Potter. She is somehow connected to Black or Lupin, but I'm not sure how. Black once said that she was a distant cousin of his, but I have yet to find her name under his family tree so I believe it was merely a diversion."

He narrowed his eyes as he thought of the woman who had beaten him. "Also she seems to have some kind of connection to the ministry. One thing I do know for certain though, is that she is not who she says she is."

"She lives permanently at Hogwarts?"

Scrunching up his face in thought, Barty hummed to himself. "She did leave the school during the holidays, she might well have been living somewhere else..."

Voldemort's lips spread into a wide grin, "Then perhaps we ought to find this woman and find out what she is hiding straight from her."

Barty quickly shook his head, bowing down to his master. "My Lord, I advise caution. She is smart and careful, she worked me out even before that fool Dumbledore did. And strong also..."

"You think a mere girl can harm me?" Voldemort's shrill laughter filled the room. "I think you underestimate me, Barty."

"I apologise, My Lord. I only fear that the girl is more than she seems."

"Very well, if you are that worried about a little girl... We shall investigate in secret." His lips slowly turned upwards into a grin. "Do you have ingredients for another polyjuice potion?"

"Of course, My lord."

"It seems you have a need to pay the Ministry a visit."


	22. Rise of the Phoenix

**THE RETURN**

**Disclaimer:** All Btvs and HP characters belong to their respective owners and as always I'm not making any profit from this fic.

* * *

Chapter 22: Rise of the Phoenix

"Did you see this?"

Buffy held out the newspaper and it was promptly taken from her hands.

Sirius' eyes scanned over the pages before he looked up in surprise. "They found Ray's body, the real one..."

"Yeah, in the middle of the woods somewhere in Albania." She scoffed as she leaned back against the kitchen counters. "The ministry's still not accepting that this is all their fault. They should have known that it wasn't the real Ray that came back."

Sirius sighed as he let the paper fall to the table in front of him, "The problem is they're not accepting anything now. How are we supposed to protect people from Voldemort when they're still saying that he's not back. It's ridiculous."

"Hmm, Fudge needs someone to kick his butt out of dream land."

He chuckled just as the front door of the house opened and a series of voices carried into the room.

"You didn't say we had guests..?" Buffy groaned as she stood up straighter.

They had only been back at Grimmauld Place for a few days and Buffy was eager for some rest for a change. So much had happened over the last week and she really wanted to try and forget it all. The last thing she wanted was a house full of people.

Unfortunately it looked like that was exactly what she was going to have to put up with.

She followed Sirius through the door and into the hall, finding her brother already standing there talking with Albus Dumbledore who had been the first to enter the house. Finally she spotted the group of people standing behind them, and as they moved along even more people were stepping in through the door.

Albus gave them a smile as he passed by, giving the others more room to move through the house.

Buffy's eyes were drawn back to the man now standing in front of them. He was tall with mid-length dark, straw coloured hair, a glass eye that was whizzing all over the place and wooden leg that thumped with every step. He looked very serious, and was watching her and Sirius like a hawk would watch a mouse, and yet she couldn't help the laugh that tried to sneak out from her.

Eventually the man held out his hand and Sirius shook it, "Alastor Moody."

"Ah, it's nice to meet you, Alastor. I'm Sirius, this is Remus and Buffy."

Buffy waved as Alastor turned his attention back to Sirius. "You're Harry's godfather?"

She couldn't help herself, his whole look just screamed pirate in her mind so she put on her best pirate voice and grinned up at him. "Aye, he is!"

Alastor stared at her, completely serious, an unimpressed look firmly in place as if he hadn't even registered what she had said before he stepped around them and followed Albus into the kitchen. Sirius nudged her in the ribs but she could tell he was trying not to laugh himself.

"What? He has a peg-leg!" She said in defense of herself.

Remus rolled his eyes at her, "He's an auror, you know. He's probably been through a lot."

She was about to comment back but was forced to move as a woman with bright pink hair ran towards them, launching herself at Sirius. Before they could do anything she had him locked in a tight hug.

"Uh, hey Tonks..." He said while trying to push her away. "Umm, kinda need to breathe, you know..."

"Oh, sorry. I'm just so excited to see you again!" She was practically bouncing on the spot before she finally realised they were not alone. Turning to Buffy and Remus she grinned at them. "I'm sorry, I'm not being very friendly am I? I'm Tonks, I'm Sirius' cousin. It's nice to meet you both, I've heard so much about you."

Despite herself Buffy found herself smiling at the energetic girl, her excited words reminded her a bit of Willow. "All good things, I hope." She said while giving Sirius her best glare.

"Of course." He replied quickly.

"You must be Remus." Tonks was saying while waving.

"Huh, oh um yes, that's me." He replied, making Sirius and Buffy turn to look at him in surprise. It was unlike him to be caught out daydreaming.

"It's good to see you all." Tonks said before she walked past them and Buffy sent her questioning gaze back to her brother.

"What were you thinking about?"

She watched as he slowly turned red in the face, "Nothing..."

"Suuure." She rolled her eyes just as another man came over to them. Dressed in bright purple robes he eagerly shook Buffy's hand, having already met both Sirius and Remus before.

"Kingsley, nice to see you made it." Sirius said in greeting and the man chuckled as he continued down the hallway.

A few older women and a man followed after him but didn't stop to speak to the three of them. Arthur Weasley and Minerva McGonagall entered next, speaking together about Hogwarts. And then finally the last guest entered, closing the door behind himself.

"Ugh, who invited him here?"

Sirius' outburst caused Buffy to grin as she watched Severus walk up to them. He didn't look too happy about being there himself, or maybe that was just because of Sirius' presence. Buffy rolled her eyes as the pair of them glared at each other. She knew they had been 'enemies' back at school but this was just getting ridiculous, they were grown adults now.

Severus gave Sirius his best glare as he stepped past them, "You did... Unfortunately."

"So what's with all the people?" Buffy asked as the three of them were finally left alone.

"The meeting's about to start." Sirius told her quietly, suddenly sounding way too grumpy. He walked into the kitchen where everyone else was waiting.

"Uh, care to explain?" She turned to her brother who had finally returned to his normal colouring.

"Oh that's right, you were never a part of the old Order. Well then, I officially welcome you into the Order of the Phoenix."

"Ooh so I'm one of the gang now?"

He nodded, "Yes, everyone here is our ally, we all work towards the same purpose."

As they were about to enter the kitchen and join the others she stilled, grabbing her brother's arm quickly to stop him. "Do they know who I am?" She asked quietly.

"They know you are my long-lost sister, but that is all we have said." He watched as she let out a breath, obviously happy with his answer. "But I think you should tell them about what you are."

Her eyes narrowed, "Why? So that they can call the ministry and have me arrested?"

He sent her a small smile, "They wouldn't do that, they are our friends and allies. I just think they deserve to know the truth if you're going to be working with them. They know all about my condition and they treat me no different, I don't see why they would treat you any differently."

"Perhaps because your condition isn't life-threatening... for you anyway. The ministry wanted me dead, remember? And you said that Alastor guy is an auror, which means he works for them!"

"No, he's retired now. I heard that Tonks was taking over from him. But that's not my point, my point is they need to know that we trust them enough for them to trust us in return... I just think they should know."

He walked away and she was left standing in the hall grumbling to herself. He was right, but at the same time she didn't want them to know. Even if they did accept her for what she was, it would mean more people knew the truth, and that meant there were more people who would get hurt because of her.

She just couldn't do that.

* * *

When she finally took a seat at the kitchen table everyone was talking loudly about the ministry's refusal to accept the truth. Buffy kept quiet, just listening to everyone's individual thoughts on the matter before Albus Dumbledore cleared his throat and the room quickly quietened.

"I believe this is everyone for now, so we may as well get started. You all know why we have called you here. Voldemort has risen to power again, and just as we did all those years ago, we will stand up against everything he throws at us. Sirius has kindly given us a place to meet, and so we will hold meetings here occasionally to confer over developments and plans.

"Kingsley, Arthur, Alastor and Nymphadora all have access into the Ministry and can work from inside; we'll need the four of you to tell us about anything that comes up, no matter how small the matter might seem. And Minerva, Severus, Buffy and myself can keep watch at Hogwarts and keep a close eye on Harry."

Sirius nodded, "We will need to work out a way to transport Harry here when it's time. I'm sure it wouldn't take much for the death eaters to find him where he is right now."

"Then why doesn't he just stay here all the time?" Buffy asked, looking from one person to another. Most of them were looking just as confused as she felt. "Wouldn't it be safer for him to live here permanently where we are all around to protect him?"

"He is perfectly protected at Privet Drive." Albus answered quickly and once again all eyes turned to him, the many guests wondering just what he meant. "When Lily Potter died to protect Harry, she left a barrier of sorts on him. That barrier is still there, and as long as Harry stays with his mother's family for at least a few days a year, that protection will remain. That is why I always insist on his staying with the Dursleys."

Tonks frowned, "But surely Voldemort knows where he is staying?"

"I believe so, yes. But we have someone living in the area who will be able to tell us straight away if any strange occurrences happen. Mrs. Figg has looked out for Harry for many years. But Sirius is right, we will need to transport Harry here in a few weeks' time. Until then, I suggest that you all get acquainted with one another, you'll be working together in this after all."

Dumbledore then stood from the table and looked at each of them intently, "I must go back to Hogwarts for now, but you know where to find me if you need anything."

They watched him go before the table erupted into conversation, the order members all chatting and introducing themselves.

Sirius and Tonks were catching up since they hadn't seen each other for many months while Arthur, Minerva and Kinglsey spoke of the problems regarding the Ministry.

Buffy was content to sit in silence and listen to them as they spoke around her. It felt good, if a little strange to have a group of people around her who were all allies again, kind of like an extended version of the Scoobies.

"So, you're Remus' sister then?"

She looked up at Alastor Moody who was sitting directly opposite her. She nodded, noticing how everyone else's conversations suddenly seemed a lot quieter. Obviously people were more interested about her than she had originally thought.

"Yes, I am."

His eyes widened ever so slightly, before he sat back in his chair and folded his arms across his chest. "And how was it that you randomly vanished off the face of the earth all that time ago?"

Now the entire kitchen had gone silent, and everyone was watching her intently as if they were trying to guess her next move.

Deciding to tell them half of the truth, Buffy sat forwards and steadied herself. "It was never anything I done, it just happened. I left this dimension, I finished the job that was set out for me and I came back here. That's all there is to the story."

She ignored the shocked faces and unbelieving looks she received, she'd seen them all before anyway. She frowned as her eyes took in Alastor's neutral expression; he wasn't at all fazed by what she had just told him...

"What job? What was so important that you had to leave our world completely?" He asked.

She sighed in frustration, why couldn't he just let it go already? "Just a job... A duty. That only I could do and I don't really see how this is any of your business anyway."

He let out a low chuckle, and the noise was enough to send goosebumps running along her arms. He knew something, and she wasn't going to like it...

"Oh it is most definitely my business. You see, that thing you're trying to avoid saying... It's that you're the Slayer, isn't it?"

Her mouth fell open in surprise, and even though her eyes were focused on Alastor she still registered the shock on everyone else's faces.

Finally closing her mouth she took a deep breath, her eyes narrowing on him in a threatening way. "You already knew?"

He stared right back, unaffected by her attempts to glare him into a pile of dust. "I've known since the moment you were called as a Slayer. I was the one sent to destroy you, but luckily for yourself, you vanished before I got the chance."

A comforting hand was suddenly on her shoulder, and she flicked her eyes up to meet her brother's. Instantly she felt her body relax slightly. Her hands, which had been curled into tight fists, slowly released and she spread them in her lap.

"Let me guess, you want to finish the job now, right?"

He laughed again, "No. It's one thing going up against an un-trained young girl, it's another thing all together standing up against a fully grown slayer. Don't get me wrong, you'd still be no match against me, but I'm not interested in fighting anyone but Voldemort and his death eaters now, and if you're fighting on our side, then I say you're an asset we can't afford to loose right now."

"Well... That's good to know." She said with a sigh. It was good that he had accepted who she was, even registered just how powerful she could be, but that didn't stop the fear from nagging away at her. Everyone would treat her differently now.

"I agree." Came the deep voice of Kingsley as he nodded, sending her a smile that was meant to put her at ease.

"So you're not going to cart me off to the ministry?" She asked, her eyes darting from him and Alastor and back again.

It was Tonks that answered her. "Of course not, you're one of us now. Besides, it doesn't matter who we are or what we are, we're all here for one purpose, nothing else should matter. So you have nothing to worry about. We'll all keep your secret."

Finally accepting what they were telling her, Buffy found herself nodding and smiling at the woman. "Thank you, all of you."

Tonks gave her a brilliant smile in reply and once again the table was alight with conversation, the entire group discussing plans and news from inside the ministry. Buffy let herself sit back and relax, finally feeling happy to be there and be a part of this group. It felt good not having to hide who she was anymore, at least not to everyone.


	23. The Advance Guard

**THE RETURN**

****

Disclaimer: All Btvs and HP characters belong to their respective owners and as always I'm not making any profit from this fic.

* * *

Chapter 23: The Advance Guard

Remus squinted into his newspaper as he tried to concentrate on the words in front of him. He had been keeping up with all the articles in the Daily Prophet, hoping that it would give away some kind of information on the Ministry or Voldemort. So far over the course of a week all he had learned was various lies about Albus and Harry.

With a sigh he picked up his mug of tea and sipped the hot drink, his eyes still scanning the page.

A muffled gargling sound caught his attention, but he only groaned, turning his gaze back to the newspaper.

He read another paragraph, all the while hearing that stupid noise again, his free hand clenching in annoyance. He had been reading for a whole half an hour, and hearing that noise for just as long. It was starting to get on his nerves.

A sudden and loud bark of laughter made him jump, and his drink spilt down his hand and all over the pages in front of him. Crying out in surprise he quickly wiped off the boiling liquid before it could burn and stared down at the now ruined paper. The words were barely legible now, and there was no way he could finish his paragraph.

Enough was enough, and he was determined to find whoever was making those horrid noises and shut them up already! Rising up from his seat he grabbed up his soaked newspaper and stalked into the hallway. He followed the noises until he came to the living room.

The noise was louder now, and he could clearly hear a familiar laugh too.

With an annoyed growl ready in his throat, he burst through the door and took a deep breath.

Tonks was sitting on the floor looking up at him innocently, her face morphed into that of a bird. Her nose was now a long yellow beak and her ears had disappeared all together.

And Buffy was sprawled out on the floor, rolling around in an uncontrollable fit of laughter...

So that was the awful noise...

With a contented sigh she sat up, staring at him as if he was the one in the wrong. "What?" Her eyes were drawn to the soaked newspaper in his hands. "I think your newspaper is wet..."

He rolled his eyes at her, "Oh well spotted, Sherlock. And while we're on the subject, guess who's fault that is?"

"Hey don't look at me, it's not my fault if you don't know where your mouth is." Buffy stuck her tongue out at him while Tonks, who was back to her normal self, was quietly chuckling at the pair of them.

"I do know where-"

"Guys, we have a problem." Sirius walked into the room wearing a serious expression that was enough to have all their smiles dropping. "Mrs. Figg called. There's been trouble at Privet Drive."

"What happened?" Tonks was first on to her feet, helping to pull Buffy up after her.

"Dementors attacked Harry and his cousin. And Harry's been expelled from Hogwarts for using magic under age and in the presence of a muggle."

"What? Why?" Buffy's outraged shriek had them all wincing. "A dementor attacks him and he's expelled? Surely Dumbledore won't allow that!"

"It's not just up to Dumbledore though." Remus replied quickly.

Tonks sighed as she stepped forwards, "We don't have time to stand here and talk about it..."

Sirius nodded, "You're right. It's time, let's get the advance guard together."

* * *

He couldn't believe it.

After everything that had happened, this was how it all ended? One stupid mistake and he would never see Hogwarts again, probably never see his friends or the people he had begun to call his family.

Harry let his head slam backwards against the wall he was leaning against. None of this was fair. He was attacked, and he saved Dudley's life only to be expelled from school and treated like a criminal. And now he was all alone in the Dursley's home, since they had long rushed Dudley off to a muggle hospital.

With a sigh Harry wondered if Sirius would still let him come and stay at Grimmauld Place. He was due to go back there in just a few short days, and he had been looking so forward to seeing everyone again... But now he wasn't sure if they would even come for him.

The silence of the house was interrupted by a loud cracking sound, as if someone had cracked a whip against his bedroom wall. Standing in alarm, Harry grabbed up his wand and held it out towards his bedroom door.

There was a couple of thuds from the other side, followed by a series of voices that he didn't recognise.

Steadying his breath, Harry stepped forward just as the door swung open and crashed into the wall behind it.

"Lower your wand, boy. Before you take someone's eye out." A deep and unfamiliar voice called.

He refused to move as he stared into the hallway. He could barely make out the figures of a group of people, but they were shrouded in the darkness so he couldn't tell if they were friends or not.

"It's all right, Harry. We're here to rescue you."

Hearing the familiar voice of his favourite teacher, he let a relieved breath fall from his lips as he finally lowered his wand.

"He doesn't much look like he needs rescuing..." Another female voice said with a laugh as someone else was muttering about getting some lights on. Seconds later the hallway was lit and Harry stared at the faces of his rescuers.

Buffy stood in the middle of the group, a big grin on her face as she stepped forward to engulf Harry in a hug. Once she had pulled away he saw the woman who had spoken a moment ago. She was taller than Buffy with short, dark hair and was sending him a friendly grin.

Behind her stood an intimidating figure, a tall man with a chunk missing from his nose and a glass eye that was whizzing around everywhere. Then there was a tall bald man, who was smiling at him. And next to him stood another familiar face, Remus.

"How are you, Harry?"

"I'm fine... now." He replied with a smile, silently wondering why had he ever been worried that they wouldn't come for him. "We're leaving now aren't we, soon?"

"As soon as we get the all clear." Remus replied with a nod and Harry felt his spirits lift slightly. He'd be back at Grimmauld Place soon, back where he belonged with his family and friends.

"Harry, this is Nymphadora Tonks, Kingsley Shaklebolt and Alastor Moody. They're aurors." Remus supplied as he gestured to the three people in the room that Harry had never met before.

He was about to say that it was nice to meet them but the young woman beat him to it.

"It's nice to meet you finally, Harry." She shook his hand before turning her gaze to Remus and glaring up at him, "And my name is Tonks! How many times do I have to tell you?!"

"I don't see why you make everyone call you by your surname." He told her with a sigh.

"Well so would you if your fool of a mother had called you Nymphadora!"

Buffy was chuckling quietly behind her hand, and Alastor looked mildly unimpressed at them.

"Quit your bickering, kids. We need to get going."

"Right, lets go!" Harry stood amazed as he watched Tonks grin and step out the door. Obviously she was the type of person who could change her emotions in the time it took to click her fingers.

Tonks was the first one out the door, leading the way through the hallway and down the stairs. Remus, Kingsley and Moody followed and Buffy grabbed Harry by the arm as she pulled him along.

"Is she always like that?" he asked quietly, fearing that Tonks would be able to hear him.

She sent him a small smile that gave him his answer and the pair of them descended down the stairs where the group was waiting. Each of them were now holding a wooden broom, and Harry had one thrust into his hands.

He was pulled around a few times as they cast various defensive spells on him so that he would be undetectable and then the six of them stepped outside, not caring that they were trudging over Vernon's prized lawn and leaving muddy footprints in the flower beds.

"Right!" Everyone stopped and looked to Moody who was dishing out the orders.

"Harry, we're flying on brooms so you'll be sticking in the middle of us all. Tonks is gonna be riding up front making sure the path is clear, Buffy you're second. Harry, make sure you stick close to Buffy, stay just behind her."

He barely had time to nod before Moody was addressing someone else.

"Remus and Kingsley will be on either side of Harry, and I'll be a bit behind, keeping watch for a sneak attack. Everyone know where they're meant to be?"

A chorus of 'yes' followed and Moody nodded as he stepped into the road. The others followed, getting into their positions and holding their brooms.

"We don't break ranks for anything, got that? If one of us is killed the rest of us keep going, we don't stop until we get to headquarters."

Harry felt the colour drain from his face. They were risking their lives to rescue him. He didn't have time to argue though, seconds later Moody was giving them all the signal to climb onto their brooms, and moments after that the group was up in the air.

* * *

The flight had been uneventful and the group touched down to the ground without any of them getting so much as a scratch.

Relief flooded through them as they stepped back into Grimmauld place knowing that they were finally safe and protected.

"Was you really expecting someone to attack us?" Harry asked, narrowing his eyes as Moody, Remus and Kingsley walked away, ignoring his question. Buffy and Tonks remained behind, slowly ushering him forward and into the living room.

"It didn't matter whether we thought there was someone waiting for us or not, Harry. We know the death eaters are preparing themselves for something and we're not taking any chances." Buffy told him as she slumped down onto the couch.

Tonks nodded along with her, "We had to be ready, no matter what."

Harry took a seat opposite them, pulling out an odd chair to perch on. "Is it really that bad out there?" He asked, his eyes drifting to the carpet, unable to meet their own. He had tried his best to keep an eye out for any trouble during his two weeks at Privet Drive, but he had not been allowed to read the Daily Prophet and of course the only letters he received were from Ron, Hermione and Sirius. And even then, all three of them had seemed reluctant to tell him much regarding what was going on outside, in the wizarding world.

When his question was met with only silence he turned his eyes back up and noticed how Buffy and Tonks were looking to each other, as if a silent conversation that only they could hear was taking place between them. Obviously they were wondering how much to tell him.

"I want to know. I deserve to know, don't I?"

Buffy sighed as she turned back to him. "Harry, we just don't want you to start thinking any of this is your fault."

He nodded, wishing that she would just tell him already.

"Alright... There have been a few attacks, death eaters taking on people who get in their way or innocents who just happened to be in the wrong place at the wrong time. There's been a couple of disappearances too."

Harry felt his body go numb for a moment. "I didn't hear anything on the muggle news..."

Tonks shook her head then, "No, there wouldn't be. Voldemort is playing it safe, he knows if he attacks muggles now he'll expose himself, attract unwanted attention. He wants people to believe that you and Dumbledore are lying about his return, all the better to sneak up on them that way."

"You said he was up to something?" Harry said as he looked between the two women.

Buffy nodded, giving him a blank look. "He's a bad guy, Harry. Bad guys are always up to something."

"But it's more than that, isn't it?"

He noticed the looks that passed between the two of them again until Tonks shrugged her shoulders. "He's going to find out sooner or later, might as well tell him now."

"Ugh, fine. Harry, the Order of the Phoenix is re-banded, and we're trying our best to fight against Voldemort and find out everything him and the death eaters are up to. We've heard that they've been travelling all over looking for recruits to join them." She watched the look on Harry's face to try and see if he understood what she was saying, "Basically, he's building an army."

His eyes widened and his mouth fell open, "An army? B-but we can't fight against a whole army!"

"My thoughts exactly..." Buffy returned as she leaned back in her chair.

Any response he might have given was lost as the sound of the door opening and slamming closed caught their attention. Seconds later Sirius, Ron and Hermione stepped into the room, the students launching themselves at Harry as soon as they saw him.

No one dared to bring up the subject again.


	24. The High Inquisitor

**THE RETURN**

**Disclaimer:** All Btvs and HP characters belong to their respective owners and as always I'm not making any profit from this fic.

* * *

Chapter 24: The High Inquisitor

Buffy smiled as she watched everyone rushing around her in a blind panic. Their last morning at Grimmauld Place had finally arrived and the house was in a state of chaos as everyone tried to get ready at the same time. Or rather as Molly tried to get everyone ready...

The twins were annoying their mother, continually joking around no matter how many times she told them to stop. Ginny and Tonks were giggling together, still in their pyjamas and Harry and Ron were far more interested in their game of wizard chess than anything they were being told. In fact the only person who was dressed and ready, with all their bags packed was Hermione, and she was using up the last of her time by reading a potions book that some seventh year students would have trouble understanding.

Buffy stood back as one of the twins sped past her, running out of the way from their now irate mother.

"Stop messing around and start getting ready! You're not even dressed yet and we have to leave in thirty minutes!"

Fred or George, whoever it was, turned to Molly with a mock insulted look. "Thirty minutes? It doesn't take me that long to get ready, woman."

"Well hurry up and go then!" She cried out, groaning when he apparated away. "Argh, these boys really do drive me round the bend sometimes." She said, more to herself than to Buffy who was smirking into her morning cup of coffee.

"Why do you bother? They're only doing it to wind you up."

Flashing her an irritated look Molly rushed out from the kitchen and into the living room, no doubt to yell at the others for not getting ready.

Moments later Tonks walked into the kitchen, tripping over a broom that had been leaning against the wall. "Opps, I hope that wasn't one of ours..." She quickly righted the broom, noticing that she had snapped part of the handle off.

"Don't worry, it's only Remus' one." Buffy replied with a shrug.

Tonks grinned at her, "Aw you are so mean to your brother."

"Eh, that's what little sisters are for. So what are you going to do with yourself now that I'm going away?"

Tonks pulled out a chair and sat sideways on it so that she could still see Buffy. She had spent a good few weeks living at the house with the Lupin siblings and Sirius and she had become good friends with them all. "I guess I'll be spending a lot more time at work now that I'm loosing my partner in crime. It will be strange without you here, but I'll still have Sirius and Remus to keep me company I guess."

"Sure, but they're nowhere near as fun as I am!" Buffy laughed as she finally finished her coffee and set down the mug.

Tonks laughed with her for a moment before she let out a loud sigh, "You'll still be visiting though, right?"

"Of course I will."

Tonks nodded her approval just as Harry and Ron stepped into the kitchen, their heads hung low and defeated looks on their faces. "Ah, mother hen got to you then?"

"Yeah, and I was winning our game as well." Harry grumbled, stopping to snatch up some breakfast which was already laid out on the table before the pair of them slowly made their way upstairs.

Thirty minutes later saw the group of them huddled round by the fireplace, bags in hand as Sirius passed around the pot of floo powder.

They had already agreed to split up, fearing that being in such a large group would draw unwanted attention, so the Weasley family stepped up first.

"We're going to The Leaky Cauldron first, remember?" Molly was telling them as one by one they used the floo network to transport themselves to the small pub outside Diagon Alley. From there they would be able to get to the train station.

Once they had all vanished in the fireplace, the rest of the group turned to face each other. They were apparating over to the station directly to avoid Harry being out in the open for too long.

Since neither Harry, Hermione or Buffy could apparate on their own they chose to go in teams of two. Tonks taking Hermione, Remus with Buffy and Sirius with Harry.

Seconds later the six of them had touched down in a small empty room in the middle of Kings Cross station. Tonks checked that the way was clear before they stepped outside and onto the platform. Acting as normal as possible, they walked through the crowds of people carrying their enchanted bags until they came to the blank wall in-between platforms nine and ten.

After making sure there were no muggles around to watch, they stepped through the brick wall and onto platform nine and three quarters where the Hogwarts Express was already waiting for them.

The entire platform was full with people, adults and students alike. Mothers and fathers were hugging their children, waving goodbye through the windows of the carriages and juggling suitcases filled with school supplies.

"Come on, there's not much time now!"

It didn't take them long until they could hear the clear voice of Mrs. Weasley as she spoke to her own children and they grinned together as they followed the sound of her voice.

Stepping past a family who were in the middle of saying goodbye the group of six spotted the Weasley clan all huddled together near one of the train entrances.

"It's almost time, you'd better get on." Molly said as she hugged Ginny and patted Ron on the shoulder.

The twins waved goodbye before disappearing on the train, no doubt to find an empty carriage for them as they usually all travelled together. Ginny and Hermione left next, the pair of them chatting about the subjects they would be taking this year.

Harry spent a few minutes saying goodbye to Sirius, Remus and Tonks before he and Ron joined them too.

"I guess I'd better get going already. I'll see you all soon." Buffy said as she hugged Tonks and waved to her brother and Sirius. With a smile she stepped onto the train and peered out the nearest window, listening to the doors closing and the engine starting up.

Slowly the train began to pull away, and she stood and waved through the window until she could no longer see her family standing there.

It was time for another year to begin...

* * *

As soon as the train pulled up at Hogsmeade station the excited students clambered out from the train and onto the platform where they were met by Professor McGonagall. The new students would be travelling to Hogwarts by the boats as they always did, while the rest of the students would get pulled along in the threstral-drawn carriages until they reached the castle.

Buffy quickly found Harry and the others and told them she would see them later as she ran up to the castle. It felt good to be able to stretch out her legs and it would be far quicker to run than to be pulled along by the threstrals.

As soon as she arrived in the castle she made her way to her room to change into a pair of jeans, black boots and a dark shirt before she made her way down to the main hall where the evening feast would take place. The students were still on their way so the hall was empty save for a few teachers that had arrived early or the select few that lived at the school over the holidays.

She stopped to say hello to some of her fellow teachers before she spotted the dark figure of Severus Snape sitting up at the teachers table.

"Hey, Sev. How are you?" She asked with a smile as she pulled out a chair and sat down next to him.

He nodded in reply and she grinned, way too used to his unsocial behaviour to let it faze her. "Hey do you think this year we might have a nice, normal time at Hogwarts?"

"Unlikely, what with everything that's been going on recently."

"...Ah, well that's... comforting." She let her gaze slide out over the room. The students were only just starting to enter now and all the teachers were making their way to the table at the front... and then she done a double take. "Did Albus mention to you about a new teacher?"

Suddenly seeing what had caught her attention, Severus shook his head. "No, he hasn't said anything..."

"Wow, she's a bit... bright." She scrunched up her face as she took in the sight before her. An unfamiliar woman was walking through the hall, a bright smile on her face as she held her head up high. She was dressed in a pink skirt-suit with matching pink hat and shoes, even her tights were slightly tinted pink. She was a complete fashion disaster!

Severus' silence was enough to say what he thought of the woman as she made her way over to them and smiled politely.

"Hello there! I'm Delores Umbridge, I'm visiting Hogwarts on official Ministry business. It's very nice to meet you both." She held out her gloved hand in order to greet them. From her position on the other side of the table, Buffy had to stand to reach her, and instantly she noticed how the woman's eyes scanned her body, as if she was evaluating her choice of clothing.

"Hi, I'm Buffy, the Defence Against The Dark Arts teacher."

Instantly Delores pulled back her hand and looked at Buffy as if she was merely a stain on the bottom of her shoe. "Oh is that so? It seems the standards at Hogwarts have fallen dramatically." Ignoring the shocked look on Buffy's face she turned to Severus and smiled politely. "And who might you be?"

"Severus Snape. Potions teacher." He snapped, completely unimpressed by the woman standing in front of them.

"Ah, it's very nice to meet you, Severus. Well I shall see you again soon, no doubt!" She sent him a small wave before she stepped away, her heels clicking on the floor as she did.

Buffy watched her go, glaring at the woman's back the entire time. "What a bitch! What the hell was that supposed to mean anyway?!"

Severus merely gave her a blank look as if the answer was perfectly clear. "You don't exactly look like a typical DADA teacher."

"What difference should that make? I mean what kid wants to be taught by a stuffy old guy in a tweed suit who doesn't get any of my cultural references and puns? How dare she judge me-"

"And you were thinking completely innocent thoughts about her when you first saw her?" Severus said, giving her a knowing look that made her pout.

"Oh shush."

Delores took a seat at the end of the teachers table much to Buffy's disgust and finally the last of the students filed into the room, seating themselves at the tables assigned to each house.

Dumbledore then entered himself with Minerva and all the first years following behind ready for the sorting ceremony.

Barely fifteen minutes later once all the newcomers were sitting at their respective house tables, Dumbledore took to the stage.

"Welcome, welcome all of you, to another year at Hogwarts. I will begin with the normal notices just to remind you all. The first years ought to know that the forest in the grounds is forbidden to all students, and some of our older students ought to know by now too."

Buffy felt her gaze instantly drawn over to Harry and his friends at the Gryffindor table. In fact it seemed as if most of the teachers were looking to their direction with grins or scowls on their faces.

"Mr Filch, our caretaker has asked me to remind you all that magic is not permitted in the corridors and there is a long list of items that are banned from use at Hogwarts, but I won't bore you all by reading them out." The headmaster grinned down at the students before turning towards the teachers table.

"I would also like to welcome Ms. Delores Umbridge to Hogwarts. She is visiting on Ministry business to assess the school. As such, I expect you all to treat Ms. Umbridge as you would any member of staff. Also Professor-"

Delores had all eyes turning her way as she stood and cleared her throat. "Thank you, headmaster, for those kind words of welcome." She stepped forward and Dumbledore let her move up to his side on the stage.

"And how lovely it is to see all your bright, happy faces smiling up at me. I'm sure we're all going to be very good friends. The Ministry of Magic has always considered the education of young witches and wizards to be of vital importance. Although each headmaster has brought something new to this historic school, progress for the sake of progress must be discouraged. Let us preserve what must be preserved, perfect what can be perfected and prune practices that ought to be prohibited."

With a small laugh she stepped back and sat back down, letting the headmaster take up the stage once more.

Buffy couldn't help but glare at the woman as Dumbledore continued talking, addressing the students in front of him. Buffy had never particularly held the Ministry in high regard, but they definitely wanted something from Hogwarts if they were willing to send one of their own to watch over the school.

There was no mistaking it, the Ministry was up to something. And nothing good ever came from that.


	25. Ministry Approved Teaching

**THE RETURN**

**Disclaimer:** All Btvs and HP characters belong to their respective owners and as always I'm not making any profit from this fic.

* * *

Chapter 25: Ministry Approved Teaching

She was humming along to a tune that had been stuck in her head since she had woken up as she sat at the desk in front of her, a quill in her hand, tapping away in time to the clock that was ticking above her head.

Some of the other teachers were staring at her with looks of annoyance on their faces while others, Professor Grubbly-Plank and Professor Burbage were snickering behind their hands, most amused at her childish display of boredom.

She let her eyes wander around the room, taking in the pink walls and the various plates that were hung around the room, all of them pictures of cats or kittens. Sure they were cute, but thirty minutes of their non-stop mewing was enough to make anyone go mad. Anyone but the person they were waiting on, anyway.

Her eyes were drawn back up to the clock...

"Ugh, I don't know why I'm even bothering..." Buffy cried out suddenly as she slumped back in her seat, looking very much like an uncouth adolescent.

"Ms. Umbridge said she needed to speak to all the teachers at once. Something about reviewing the curriculum..." Chasity Burbage reminded her with a fond smile, "Frankly I don't see any reason why she should even be here. Hogwarts is hardly a failing school."

Buffy nodded along to her words, agreeing completely. It was only the first day of term and already Delores had them in her grasp. She had called the meeting at her own office, to begin promptly at eight in the morning, just one hour before classes would start, something that had angered many of the teachers who would normally spend their time planning lessons for the week.

The time was now eight thirty-six, and Delores Umbridge had yet to arrive. Some of the teachers had already left in a huff, but a few of them remained behind. Mostly Buffy just wanted to see the look on the old toad's face when she realised half the staff had already gone.

Another two minutes passed before the woman they were all waiting for finally turned up.

Buffy let her eyes wander over the woman, who was once again dressed in all pink. This time her blazer was fluffy to match her hat.

"Someone really needs to take her out on a shopping trip... Do you think her closet is full with those things?" She said, leaning across her desk so that she could whisper to Chasity.

Her fellow teacher giggled, trying to cover her laugh with her hand before the pair broke apart. "Shhhh, she'll hear you."

Delores seemed surprised that only half the teachers remained but she quickly got to work. "Well it's no wonder this school has been failing recently when the staff are not even present at organised meetings."

Buffy let her laugh spill from her mouth before she could stop herself and suddenly all eyes were turned on her. "You call this organised? A few minutes notice before you expect us to turn up and then you're not even on time yourself! You should count yourself lucky that any of us are still here."

"... And teachers that act as disobediently as one would expect from students... Well I can't say I'm surprised."

Ignoring Buffy completely, Delores began handing out various tomes and textbooks to the individual teachers. "These are the new, Ministry approved teaching curriculum that we expect you all to work by. Each subject has been modified to suit the needs of your students."

Finally she dropped a pile of books, one for each year group, on Buffy's desk and turned away to continue talking. "When reviewing last years curriculum we noticed one thing that was consistent throughout all the subjects taught here at Hogwarts, so we have aimed to change that to make Hogwarts a better educated school and to improve the failing grades and behaviour of your students."

Buffy ignored what Delores was saying and instead flicked through the book that she was supposed to use to teach her first year students.

"Umm, excuse me..?"

"Yes, Miss Burbage, wasn't it?"

"Yes..." Chasity answered, her tone suggesting that she was slightly worried, "This book uses some rather... derogatory words in association with muggles... I don't think it is at all suitable for teaching in a muggle studies class, let alone in any class."

Delores only raised one eyebrow in interest, "I assure you the Ministry has given much thought to all the modifications and has deemed all the new teaching aides to be suitable for their individual classes. Now are there any other questions?"

Buffy resisted the urge to speak up, knowing that she would only get herself in further trouble by annoying Delores more.

"Very well, you are all dismissed then. I look forward to seeing you all working from these books. The school shall be back to some semblance of order in no time at all." The teachers all stood and stepped out from the woman's office, all of them grumbling to themselves.

"Look at this! How am I supposed to teach students this?" Chasity said in anger as she stuffed her books into a bag. "They speak of muggles as if they are not real people, and they expect me to teach this to my students? It's ridiculous."

"That's the Ministry for you." Buffy told her, hugging her own books to her chest. She had decided to wait and look at them properly in the comfort of her own classroom, that way she would avoid the inevitable throwing of said book at Delores' head if she found something she didn't agree with.

"Have you looked at yours yet?" Chasity asked, gesturing the books in Buffy's arms. "If they are as stupid as mine I imagine you're going to have some trouble teaching this year." The two of them sent each other knowing looks before Chasity took the turning for her own classroom, leaving Buffy to her own thoughts.

* * *

By the time Buffy made it back to her own classroom she barely had five minutes to get everything ready before the first round of students walked into the room, eager for their day to begin.

She smiled up at the fifth year class, all of whom she had taught before. She liked meeting the new students, but she much preferred teaching the older years that she had already worked with. It made it so much easier to teach them when she knew how they liked to work.

"Welcome back all of you, I'm gad to see you all made it through the summer." She waited until they were all in their seats before she began to hand out pieces of parchment that she had already prepared. It was useless starting the first lesson with hard studies, especially with the students still over excited because of the holidays, so she had made up a small quiz for them, just to get them to try and remember everything they had covered in their last year. It was an easy way to get them back into the right learning mind.

"Now you guys all know that this is an important year for you, what with your O.W.L.s at the end of the year, but we're going to start off slowly with this quiz for now." The students all seemed happy enough and quickly got to work on their own, giving Buffy the time she needed to look through her new books.

She brought out the fifth year book and began reading, a frown quickly forming on her face.

The more she read the deeper her frown went.

"Is everything okay, Buffy?" She looked up to the familiar voice, seeing that Hermione was staring at her in concern. At her words, Harry, Ron and half of the rest of the class looked up to watch her.

"Uh, yes. It's just this new DADA Curriculum I've been given... It doesn't make sense at all." She said, tapping the book in front of her.

Hermione looked intrigued so Buffy handed her the book so she could see for herself.

"They want you to teach us this?" The girl asked incredulously.

"Yeah, that's what Toad Face said."

The class laughed, but they quietened down as they saw Hermione frown much in the way their teacher had been just a moment ago.

"But this doesn't say anything about using defensive spells! There's not even one mention of it!" Hermione cried out while looking to her teacher in confusion.

"Exactly what I was thinking." Buffy replied with a sigh, taking the book back. Obviously the ministry didn't want the students to learn real magic, although that was completely pointless what with them going to a magical school. None of it made any sense.

Harry shook his head from his seat, "How can they think that's a better education for us? If we don't learn how to defend ourselves then we have no chance of surviving if we're attacked."

Suddenly there was uproar in the classroom as the students all talked and yelled at each other. Most were in agreement, they needed to learn DADA the real way, not the way the Ministry wanted her to teach them. But some others were defending the Ministry's actions, saying that they had no need to learn to defend themselves since they were not likely to be attacked anyway.

With a growing headache, Buffy held up her hands to stop the arguing students. At once they quietened down and she stood from her seat, holding onto the book in one hand.

"There's no use arguing over this. As far as I am concerned, you need to be taught how to defend yourselves and I intend to do just that, no matter what some stupid Pink Power Ranger has said. I'm your teacher, and Ill teach you my way."

Her gaze drifted down to the book in her hands. "There's only one thing to do with this." She sent the students a grin before she proceeded to throw the book out the nearest window.

Clapping her hands together, a grin on her face, Buffy stepped up to the front row of desks. "Right, so where were we?"


	26. Classroom Conflicts

**THE RETURN**

**Disclaimer:** All Btvs and HP characters belong to their respective owners and as always I'm not making any profit from this fic.

* * *

Chapter 26: Classroom Conflicts

"Okay, everyone ready?"

She stared around the room at the faces of her students. They had only just arrived and were still getting comfortable in their seats. At her question they nodded and all eyes were fixed upon her as she stood at the front of the classroom.

"Today we're learning about protection spells and charms. Now this is a big subject in your O.W.L examinations so make sure you're paying attention. You'll need to get out your books and turn to page one hundred and forty-two where you will find the Shield Charm."

She grabbed up the book on her desk and flicked to the right page herself so she would have something to use as a reference.

"Of course there is no way to fully protect yourself from every spell, but a shield charm can work wonders in keeping out unwanted hexes or jinxes if you know how to work one properly. And there are many forms of this charm, each one a stronger version of the one before it, do any of you know them?"

She stared at the many blank faces, her amused eyes finding Hermione in the crowd who had instantly raised her hand. Just like normal. "Hermione?"

"Well there's the normal charm, _Protego_, and then the more advanced forms like _Protego Duo_ and _Protego Totalum_, which is more specifically for the protection of a small area rather than the caster himself."

"Very good, you're completely right. Not all the charms are for protecting you, there are many that can be used to protect the surrounding area too. Now before we get practicing, I want you to take note of your homework. I want you all to research into shield charms and write a page on the uses and benefits of them, paying special attention to the advanced forms."

She waited silently as the students wrote down their homework, and when everyone was ready she gestured for them all to stand. "You'll need to be in pairs, so everyone find a partner. One of you is going to try out the shield charm while the other is going to cast a low level jinx, and when we have some progress we will swap positions. Remember the incantation is _Protego_!"

She watched as the students all faced off against each other, some of them casting spells at their partners while the other attempted to protect themselves from it. As she had expected, the first attempts failed and half the class was now suffering from various jinxes.

Trying not to laugh, she made her way around the classroom, undoing any spells that hadn't been shielded. After a few tries, Hermione soon got to grips with the charm, making Lavenders jinx bounce away as if it had hit a wall.

"Well done, Hermione. Now you guys swap over." Buffy commented, watching as Lavender had her turn.

She noticed that Neville was having trouble and stepped up to him, quickly reversing the various tentacles that were protruding from his head.

He sighed in defeat, "I'll never get it. I'm not good with spells."

She patted him on the arm. "You are good, you just need to keep practicing and stay focused. Shield charms are difficult to learn so don't be discouraged if you can't do it straight away."

He didn't seem very encouraged to try again so she smiled down at him, "I'll tell you a secret, Neville, I've only recently learned to do this myself so I know just how hard it can be to learn. But if I can do it, then I know you can too, okay?"

Slowly he nodded, turning back to face his partner.

Buffy smiled as she looked around the room, cries of "Protego!" filling the air around her.

Suddenly the door swung open and with a loud bang slammed into the wall behind it. Standing in the doorway was Buffy's not so favourite person at Hogwarts.

Dressed in a long pink skirt and a pink fluffy jumper, Delores Umbridge stepped into the classroom and looked around in wonder, surprise evident on her face.

"What is this?"

Buffy groaned as she pulled her body upwards and placed her hands on her hips. "My classroom. Now if you don't mind, I'm trying to teach and I could really do without you interrupting. So bye bye!" She smiled and waved, hoping that the woman would get the hint and leave her alone. Unfortunately Delores wasn't having any of it.

She stepped further into the room, eyeing the students who had all now stopped casting spells and were standing silently, unsure of what to do. "I do believe that this is not part of the Defence Against the Dark Arts curriculum that I gave you, so I have to ask why you have chosen to disregard everything that I told you?"

Buffy laughed quietly, "You really expected me to play by your rules? This is my classroom, and I make my own rules here."

"I am High Inquisitor Of Hogwarts and you do not have the authority to ignore my orders. I gave you instructions and I expect you to comply with them." Her hands spread out to gesture to the students around her, "This madness will stop right now!"

"Madness? I'm teaching them vital spells that are going to protect them from harm, something that any good DADA teacher should be doing. The only madness I see here is you getting in my way!"

"I can't imagine why they would need to use spells in the classroom. It is the view of the Ministry that a theoretical knowledge of the subject will be sufficient to get them through their examinations, which is after all, what school is all about."

Buffy's mouth fell open in amazement. Either this woman was incredibly stupid or she was just crazy for getting on Buffy's nerves. Either way, this was not going to end well. "Sorry, but I don't care much for the ministry's views. What use is learning spells if they have no chance at practicing them? What would happen then when they actually need to protect themselves?"

"There is no need for them to protect themselves!" Delores cried, her voice getting higher and higher in pitch the angrier she became. "This is a school, and as such students only need to learn the theory behind their subjects!"

Buffy's eyes narrowed as she mentally tried to count to ten and calm herself down.

Ten seconds later, she realised it didn't work.

Harry stepped forwards then, looking just as annoyed as Buffy felt. "And how's theory supposed to prepare us for what's out there?"

Buffy spun to face him, resisting the urge to smack him upside the head for getting himself involved in their argument.

"There is nothing out there, dear." Umbridge told him sternly. "Who do you imagine wants to attack children such as yourself?"

Seeing the look on his face, Buffy tried to step up to him and stop him before he could open his mouth further, but as she tried to grab him he stepped away from her grasp.

"Umm let me think... Voldemort, maybe?"

Buffy sent him her best glare, to which he only shrugged in return, before the both of them turned to Delores who was now turning a shade of red that seriously clashed with her outfit.

"Now, let me make this quite plain. You have been told that a certain dark wizard is at large once again. This is a lie."

"It's not a lie!" Harry yelled, making a few of the students standing near him jump. "I saw him! I fought him!"

"Detention, Mr. Potter."

"No." Delores turned to face Buffy who was now glaring at her too. "You can't just walk in here and dish out detentions to my students. You have no right."

"I have every right, Miss Summers. I am High Inquisitor here!"

"Yes, you said that already. Unfortunately that means absolutely nothing to me, so as far as I'm concerned you're just a mean old toad that seriously needs some urgent fashion advice."

Delores had now turned bright red in anger, her fists clenched at her side. "Mr. Potter, I expect to see you in my office later today for your detention. And Miss Summers... As you rightly have said, I may not be in a position to change things at Hogwarts just yet, but I wouldn't get too comfortable here if I were you. Things will change here, mark my words!"

With that she stormed out from the room, almost taking the door with her, and leaving a stunned and silent class behind. Buffy stepped after her and grabbed a hold of the door, slamming it closed with enough strength to make the glass window shatter.

"Get back to work." She growled out, ignoring the bug-eyed students who were giving her strange looks. None of them had seen her in a bad mood before.

As she walked through the crowd of students they slowly began casting their spells again, some of them giving the door odd looks as if they half expected Delores to walk back in and give them all detentions for following their teacher's commands.

Buffy stepped through the door and into her office, needing a moment to calm herself down. She placed her hands on her desk and took a few deep breaths.

The door behind her opened slowly, and Harry slipped inside. "Buffy? Are you okay?"

She sighed as she turned to face him, "Yeah, I'm fine."

"I'm sorry, I know it was wrong of me to get involved but I just couldn't let it go. How can she be so... so..."

"Annoying? Stupid? Crazy? Take your pick." She replied as she sat down on the edge of the desk. "It's fine, Harry, I just didn't want you getting in trouble."

"Oh, well I guess I have no choice but to go to that detention now, right?"

She nodded, "If it was me, I'd skip it purposefully just to yank her chain. But no, you have to go. I don't want you getting yourself into more trouble, I'd never hear the end of it back home."

He looked nervous for a moment, before he stared up at her with a meaningful expression. "And you stay out of trouble too. You heard what she said, Buffy, she doesn't like you at all."

Giving him a genuine smile, Buffy stood and placed her hand on his shoulder. "Don't you worry about me, Harry. No crazy cat lady is going to be able to get rid of me that easily."

* * *

Harry unconsciously rubbed at the back of his hand as he walked into the common room, his eyes searching for his friends.

He had gone to his detention with Umbridge, and was sure now more than ever that the woman was crazy. She had asked him to write lines, which wasn't unusual as a form of punishment for most of the teachers at Hogwarts. If anything he had been grateful that he wasn't being made to clean anything.

But as soon as he had started writing with Delores' own 'special' quill, his hand had begun to itch. And the longer he wrote, the more insistent the itch became, until it was painful. That was when he had realised he was bleeding, that his hand now had a single line written across the back, in his own handwriting no less.

_'I must not tell lies'._

The wound still stung even though he had been to the bathrooms to wash it with warm water. All that had accomplished was to wash away some of the blood.

His eyes spotted Ron and Hermione sitting at the couch in front of the fire. Hermione had a book in her hands and was reading, completely engrossed in the words in front of her, while Ron was silently watching the flames burning.

Hoping that they wouldn't spot him, Harry snuck past the couch and to the stairs that led up to the dorm rooms. He had barely stepped on the first stair when someone called out his name.

"Harry! Hey, over here!"

He flinched, turning to send Ron a forced smile that he was sure his friend would pick up on. But Ron hadn't seemed to notice, instead he patted the chair between himself and Hermione and waited.

Reluctantly Harry stepped over to them, taking a seat and trying his best to keep his hand tucked away in his pocket. If they knew what Umbridge had done they would tell someone, most likely Buffy, and then she would get mad and confront Umbridge, and that would lead to her getting in even more trouble with the woman. No, it was better if he kept it a secret. He had learnt his lesson the hard way, he didn't want anyone else to have to go through that as well.

"So what was it like?" Ron was asking.

Harry spared a glance to Hermione who was still reading, her eyes hadn't even left the page when he had sat down. That was good... She was the one who usually spotted things first.

"It wasn't too bad." He lied with a small cough, "She just made me write lines."

Suddenly Hermione was staring at him, and he could almost see her brain working. She knew something was off right from the moment he had opened his mouth.

"Did you manage to do your potions homework today?"

He blinked, taken by surprise by the sudden change in topic. "Um no, I've barely had any time."

She nodded, closing her book with a loud snap and holding it out to him. "Here, everything you need to know is in this book."

"Um thanks..." He tried to take it one handed, but it was quite a big, heavy book so he was forced to use both hands. He instantly regretted it when he saw Hermione's eyes widen, her gaze fixed upon his injured hand.

"Harry! What happened?" She grabbed his hand, tipping the book from his grasp so that it smacked Ron in the knees. "Harry... She did this?"

He sighed, felt his body deflate somehow and that was enough of an answer for his friends.

"Bloody hell, Harry. She's torturing you." Ron commented while rubbing at his sore knees.

"You need to tell Dumbledore." Hermione told him sternly.

"No, that's the last thing I need to do. I don't want to give Umbridge the satisfaction, and besides Dumbledore's got enough to worry about without this." He jumped in before Hermione could even utter a single word, "And Buffy too. They don't need to know."

With that he stood from his seat and marched upstairs, not daring to look back at his friends, and hoping that they wouldn't tell anyone.


	27. A Little Inspiration

**THE RETURN**

**Disclaimer:** All Btvs and HP characters belong to their respective owners and as always I'm not making any profit from this fic.

**A/N:** Thank you to everyone keeping up with this story and everyone who has been reviewing, I really appreciate all your comments whether good or bad :)

* * *

Chapter 27: A Little Inspiration Goes a Long Way

Buffy leant back in her chair, her boots propped up on her desk, just letting her chair balance on the two back legs while she read the dusty tome in her hands.

It was a huge book, one that she had found back in Sirius' library weeks ago, and despite its size it was very handy to keep around. Inside was details on many spells that she had missed out on learning back as a child, not to mention lots of useful spells and tips that she had been able to pass on to her students. She had actually found it quite interesting, and hadn't been able to put the book down since she had first started reading it.

She'd been getting some strange looks from the students and teachers who knew her as the type to avoid anything involving books, but she found that she didn't really care anymore. Back in Sunnydale studying had been hard and boring, it was an effort just to open the book in the first place. But now, learning spells, it was fun and interesting, and she knew she needed this knowledge.

A soft knock on her door broke her concentration and her eyes switched to the now opening door, where a bushy brown head was peeking through.

"Hermione? Everything all right?"

The girl ducked into the room, walking up towards the desk and sitting down at the nearest chair. It was lunch time so the class was empty save for the two of them.

"I wanted to talk to you about something..." She started, her eyes widening as she spotted how easily Buffy was balancing on just the back of her chair. "You shouldn't do that, you know? You'll fall off or break the chair. It happens all the time in class."

Buffy looked surprised for a moment, then looked down to her chair, realising what the younger witch was talking about. "Oh, nah it's fine." She waved it away, but seeing that Hermione was almost glaring at her she sighed and moved her feet back to the ground, planting her chair firmly on the floor. "There, better? Geez and here I thought I was the one supposed to do the bossing around, not the other way."

Hermione smiled at that, "I swear you act more like the students than a teacher sometimes."

"So what did you want to talk about?" Buffy asked with a smile.

"Harry." At her one word answer all sense of joking left the room, Buffy was instantly alert and listening as if her life depended on it. "He didn't want me to tell anyone, but I knew I had to. It's just that his detention with Ms. Umbridge, it wasn't what we all expected."

"What happened?" Buffy asked, suddenly dreading the worst. She had already seen Harry loitering about in the corridors with his friends earlier that day, so she knew he was fine. But that didn't stop the questions from whizzing around her head. Could Umbridge secretly be a spy for Voldemort? Did she attack Harry? Was the Ministry trying to shut him up?

"She made him write lines, but with a special quill of hers. It carved that same line into the back of his hand. Buffy, she really hurt him, and I don't think it's just Harry. I think any student who has a detention with her gets the same treatment!"

"She what?" Hermione stepped back slightly after seeing the look of anger of her teacher's face. "Does Dumbledore know?"

"No, I came to you first..."

"Right." Buffy stood from her seat, "Thanks for letting me know, Hermione. Leave this to me."

Hermione nodded, leaving the room quietly, with Buffy following a few moments after, although she was heading in an entirely different path.

She stormed through the school, ignoring the various students who jumped out of her way before she could run them down, until she arrived at the wooden door that belonged to one Ms. Delores Umbridge.

She entered without knocking, just forced her way through the door and into the pink office, instantly hearing the mewing cats that lined the walls. Delores was seated at her desk, her hands folded together as she looked on in satisfaction. A student, a fourth year girl who Buffy knew from her own classes, was sitting on a separate desk writing away, a look of pain on her face and a trail of blood over the back of her hand.

Instantly Delores was on her feet, and the young girl was looking at Buffy as if she was her saviour.

"What do you think you're doing?" Delores cried, stepping around her desk so that she could face Buffy. "You can't just come barging into my office without an invitation!"

"No? Well maybe you should get better security since that's exactly what I've just done."

"You can't do-"

Buffy ignored her and turned to the girl, the name Danielle coming to her mind. "Danielle, go up to the Infirmary, make sure you get that looked at." The student nodded, and ran from the room without looking back.

Buffy turned her gaze back to Delores. "You're secret's out, Delores. As soon as Dumbledore hears about this you'll have my boot kicking you out of Hogwarts, and maybe even the Ministry too."

A smile appeared on her face then, which confused Buffy slightly. She was happy that she had been found out?

"And what makes you think that the Minister doesn't already know what I am doing here?"

"He wouldn't..." Buffy said quietly. Even though she she hated the man, even though she wouldn't ever trust him as far as she could throw him, she had to believe that all the wacky things he done were for the good of his own people, that he actually believed he was making the right decisions for them. If what Delores was suggesting was true, then her opinion of the man had seriously just dropped off the chart.

"The Minister sent me here to help raise the falling standards of this school, Miss Summers, and now I see that things at Hogwarts are far worse than I believed them to be! The Minister will hear of this and things will change at this school. I will make it so!" Delores stood tall and fierce, and Buffy knew that there would be no changing her mind now.

She glared at the woman, feeling her inner fire begin to dull. She desperately wanted to punch that smirk off Delores' face, but she knew there was no point, it would give her some satisfaction but it would only last for as long as her job did. "Whatever. Just don't expect all of us to bow down to you... because I'm telling you now, it's so not gonna happen."

Buffy retreated from the room then, intent on using what little time she had left of her lunch break to try and figure some of this out.

* * *

They were not at all surprised when she randomly appeared in the fireplace surrounded by bright green flames. However, they were surprised to see her looking annoyed and agitated.

"Buffy, what's up?" Tonks was the first to welcome her back home, pulling her in for a tight hug.

When the girl had pulled back she took in the concerned looks on Remus and Sirius' faces. The pair of them were sitting on the couch, Remus with a book in his hands and Sirius with a plate of food.

"I need to find out a bit of intel about someone." She said as she stepped further into the room. The three of them gave her a blank look and she sighed as she took a seat opposite the two guys. "You know, info? Information?"

"Oh, right. How can we help?"

"I need to know everything you can find out on Delores Umbridge. She works for the Minister but he's sent her to Hogwarts to sort out our 'failing standards'. She's a right pain in my-"

"Okay, okay, we get it." Sirius said, interrupting her mid rant.

"Wait, Delores Umbridge... You mean the under secretary?" Tonks asked, looking to Buffy for confirmation.

"I don't know," The slayer answered slowly, "I just know she works for the Minister."

Tonks looked thoughtful for a moment before she suddenly made a loud squeaking sound and dashed out the room. The others all looked at each other in confusion, before Tonks rushed back in holding a copy of the Daily Prophet.

"Here, read this." She flipped through the pages before handing it to Buffy, then took a seat on the couch, squeezed up beside Remus.

Buffy sent them a puzzled glance before she turned back to the paper and read out loud.

_"Recent accounts from concerned parents have put the Minister into action against Hogwarts._

The school, which has been run by Albus Dumbledore for many years now, has slowly been falling into a state of disrepair, with students who are failing their examinations and teachers who disregard the proper teaching methods given to them. Just a week ago, The Minister selected a single individual, Ms. Delores Umbridge, his own under secretary, to step up as role of Hogwarts' High Inquisitor.

Ms. Umbridge has assessed the school in detail and will continue to help the school through its toughest times. The Minister has since confirmed that if the need is dire enough, he will grant Ms. Umbridge the authority to make any changes in the school that she feels are necessary, even if it should mean the end of Dumbledore's reign. At least in the Ministry's hands, we can be assured that Hogwarts will once again be a school worth attending."

There was silence in the room for a few minutes as Buffy took in what she had just read. "I really need to make a subscription to this thing... So either Delores wants to take over Hogwarts, or she's being made to by the Ministry."

"Buffy, if that's true..."

She looked up at the concerned eyes of her brother. "Yes, I know. She's already threatened to fire me if she ever gets the chance. I just have to make sure she doesn't."

"I don't think you'll have much say in the matter." Sirius said quietly, looking down at the ground. "From what it sounds like, the Minister's willing to go as far as to lie about all of this just to get people to think that he is right and Dumbledore is wrong. If he orders it, this Umbridge woman will automatically take over. Plus there's the other news we've heard about..."

"What other news?" She asked, looking from the three of them.

"The Minister doesn't want students to be taught anything that they can use against him." Remus told her, looking to Tonks for confirmation. She nodded along, obviously it was through her efforts that they had learnt this information.

Buffy stifled the laugh that was trying to get out of her, "Wait, you're telling me that the great Minister Fudge is afraid of a bunch of students?"

Tonks nodded, sitting forward in her chair. "Think about it, Buff. If Dumbledore had a group of students to fight with him..."

"Then this isn't about the students at all, he's afraid of Dumbledore."

"He thinks Dumbledore is after his job, building an army by teaching his students how to fight so that they can overthrow him." Remus added. "Which is why-"

Buffy jumped up and spoke before he could finish his sentence. "Why they've taken all the spells out of DADA class! That's ridiculous! How can he put all those students' lives in danger just because he is afraid he might loose his job? Agh, I really hate that man."

"He's stopping you from teaching?" Sirius asked, surprised.

She nodded, "Teaching them spells, yes. It's all about theory work now, or at least that's what they want. I haven't exactly been playing by their rules, hence the threatening to fire me thing."

"You should play by their rules, just for now. We need you at Hogwarts, Buffy." Tonks replied with a sigh.

"But-"

"No buts. If it means you keeping your job, then you're doing what they tell you."

She grumbled as she looked at her friends and family. They were right, of course. She needed to be at Hogwarts to look out for Harry. Of course Dumbledore and Severus would be there too, but Dumbledore's job looked to be on just as shaky ground as hers and even though she loved Severus in his own way, she just couldn't imagine him looking out for Harry in the way she did.

"All right, I don't like it, but I guess I'll teach the kids what the Ministry wants them to learn in class..."

And then an idea came to her. Just because she was playing by their rules during DADA lessons, didn't mean she couldn't teach the students outside of DADA lessons. It would be risky, but it would be worth it.

"What are you thinking?" Sirius asked her with a knowing look on his face, "I've seen that look before, you're planning something. Something that usually ends with one of us running for our lives..."

She couldn't help the giggle that fell from her, "Oh don't worry, it won't be you running this time."

"You would think that would comfort me... But it doesn't."

Tonks nodded her agreement, "Don't get yourself in even more trouble, Buffy."

She nodded, "Hey, you know me. Trouble follows me around no matter what I do." With that she got up and went back to the fireplace. "Thanks for the inspiration, I've gotta get going. See you all soon." She waved and within a second she had vanished in the flames.

Remus watched her go with a sigh, "One day that girl is going to find herself in so much trouble she can't get back out."

"Don't worry, Moony. We'll be there to drag her back out again."


	28. Dumbledore's Army

**THE RETURN**

**Disclaimer:** All Btvs and HP characters belong to their respective owners and as always I'm not making any profit from this fic.

* * *

Chapter 28: Dumbledore's Army

A whole two weeks passed by without a single incident for Buffy and the rest of the school.

Buffy had frantically gone looking through the bushes under her classroom window for her lost 5th year book and much to the disappointment of the students, she had found it with no problems. It was slightly dented from the fall and some of the pages had stuck together from the rain, but it was still mostly legible.

True to her word, she then stopped teaching the students spells all together. Occasionally she would let them practice for a few minutes at the end of the lesson, but only when she was standing by the door, looking out for Delores to suddenly pop out of nowhere.

As for Delores herself, her visits to Buffy's classroom slowly became less and less frequent, until Buffy had gone almost five days without seeing or hearing the woman. Obviously she thought she had won the battle. Of course, that didn't mean she had won the war just yet...

It was a Saturday morning when Buffy, having had enough of acting as if she was Delores' best friend, finally pulled Harry, Ron and Hermione from the Great Hall and into her office, telling them that she had important news for them.

"What's this all about, then?" Ron asked as he took a seat and absently began playing with the cushions on the couch.

Buffy was staring out the window, her back to the three of them. She turned slowly and looked at them all in turn. "I have something I need for you to do. It's pretty easy, but you need to be sneaky about it."

She noticed how Harry and Ron's eyes suddenly lit up, whereas Hermione, always the practical one of the three, merely groaned.

"We're going to be breaking school rules, right?" She asked with a sigh.

Buffy would have laughed if she hadn't been thinking so hard on what she wanted to do. "No, none that I know of. Look, what I tell you now needs to stay just between us four, and you know I'm only telling you because I trust you all so don't make me regret that."

The three of them nodded, eager to find out what was on her mind.

"DADA lessons aren't quite what they used to be-"

Harry interrupted before she could even finish her sentence, obviously thinking that she was blaming herself. "You have your reasons for changing them, we all know that. Even the other teachers are beginning to change their lessons in fear of loosing their jobs."

"Yeah, well the changes don't sit well with me, so I'm planning to do something about it." She told them as she paced up and down the room. "You remember the Room of Requirement?"

"Of course, it takes the shape of whatever the user needs it to be." Hermione commented, as if she had practically read the line from a textbook. Then her eyes widened, and Buffy knew that she understood exactly what Buffy was planning. The boys remained completely clueless though.

Buffy cocked her head slightly to one side, smiling down at them. "You guys remember when we secretly trained in there last year? Just before the final task of the tournament?"

They nodded, still not quite getting it.

Hermione sighed, turning to the pair of them. "Buffy's going to continue training us in secret, using the Room of Requirement so that we don't get caught."

They both made 'oh' faces before they jumped up, "That's perfect!"

Hermione ignored the boys and continued on, "You mean to teach as many people as you can?"

Buffy nodded to her question, "Of course, anyone who is willing to learn what I have to teach them. That's where I need you guys to come in... I'm calling a meeting, just for students I mean. All I need is for you guys to tell everyone who's interested where to meet. There's no way I have the time to talk to everyone and it might look suspicious if I'm seen picking and choosing the students that I talk to."

"How are we supposed to tell them without giving it all away? We still need to keep this quiet or Umbridge will find out." Harry said.

"I just need people that are trustworthy and loyal to the school, people that are interested in learning, and people who want to help to make a change to things here." She watched as the three of them nodded. "Just ask people if they are willing to spend some time learning new things and tell them to meet us, I'll take it from there."

Harry nodded, "I think I know exactly who to ask. And who not to ask too..."

Buffy smiled down at them, "Great, I know this isn't a lot to go by, but the more people we can get involved, the better. Oh and the meeting, we're having it here at eight o'clock Monday morning, okay? That way it won't look quite as suspicious if there are a lot of people missing from breakfast. We can say you all slept in."

"Right, we'd better get asking around then."

* * *

Buffy waited patiently as the clock struck eight. It was the day of the meeting and she was eager to get it started. Harry had assured her that he, Hermione and Ron had asked as many people that they thought would come, and she hoped that she could get them all to begin learning real spells again as soon as possible.

She had spent some time with Hermione figuring out a method to stop anyone from telling Umbridge about their plans and eventually the two of them had come up with the perfect idea. Anyone who joined in on their meetings would have to sign their name on a piece of enchanted parchment. If any of those people told anyone who was not also a member, they would suffer the consequences and the paper would highlight their name for all to see.

It had all been Hermione's idea, although Buffy was undecided on whether she just had a brilliant but evil mind, or had stolen the idea from James, since it was the kind of prank he would have pulled once upon a time.

Harry, Ron and the evil genius herself were the first three to arrive at her classroom, all of them looking happy, pleased that the day of the meeting had finally come around.

And then Buffy's door opened and in flooded a crowd of yawning students, the majority of them being Gryffindor students. She noted how not one of them were dressed in the Slytherins green and silver robes, although that didn't surprise her at all.

"Hey, everyone." She gestured for them all to take a seat and watched as they took up the majority of desks. There must have been at least twenty-five to thirty students in total.

With a quick look out the door to make sure there were no more stragglers, she cast a quick spell on the door to magically lock it, and another to stop any sound from leaving the walls. It was much safer that way.

Buffy took up her usual place at the front of the class, looking around at the confused faces in front of her.

"None of you know the real reason why I called you here, and yet the fact that you came tells me that you are exactly the people I was looking for. The Ministry believes that you only need a theoretical knowledge of magic to get you through school and life afterwards... But I think you all know just how wrong they are. I'm fed up with teaching you pointless defensive theory, and I'm sure you're all fed up of hearing it by now too." She smiled at the small nods that filled the room.

"For those of you who are interested, I will be holding a new class once a week from today onwards. In these lessons I will be teaching you everything you're missing out on in your actual DADA classes, as well as hopefully showing you some new spells that might be of some use later on."

A six year girl from Ravenclaw held up her hand, a puzzled look on her face. "Why do we need to learn this? If the Ministry wants us to only learn the theory then why should we bother with the rest of this stuff? What's the point?"

"The point, is that right now you don't know how to defend yourselves from anyone who might attack you. And I'm pretty positive that one day, maybe even soon, you're going to need to know that." Buffy said, before she turned her gaze back out over the entire crowd.

"You might not believe it right now, but there are certain people out there," she pointed out towards the window, "that would love to hurt you all. Learning this stuff, it isn't just about achieving good grades, this is the kind of knowledge that could save your life one day, the kind of knowledge that helps you to fight back against those people. Surely that is worth learning."

The class was silent for a long moment until a quiet voice spoke. Buffy looked down to Neville who was staring at the ground, rather than at her. "You're talking about Voldemort, aren't you?"

Half the class flinched at the sound of his name, while the rest glared at Neville. It was clear which students believed the Ministry, and which ones believed Dumbledore and Harry.

Before the entire class could get into a huge argument over it, Buffy nodded. "Yes, Neville. Voldemort is out there, and he's looking for a party, and not a good one at that. But if you'll let me teach you, I can give you all the best chance you've got to avoid getting involved in it."

The class still seemed mixed, with half of the students stubbornly refusing to acknowledge her words.

Harry stepped forward then, joining his teacher at the front. "It's true. I know you don't all think it is, but I was there, I fought him. I only survived because Buffy taught me how to defend myself."

"Don't sell yourself up too short, Harry." Buffy commented as she placed her hand on his shoulder. "You done all the hard work."

"Is it true you can cast a full patronus, Harry?" Luna asked from her seat in the middle.

Harry was stunned for a moment, so it was Hermione who answered. "Yes he can, I've seen it."

Harry turned to her, about to argue that he had needed to learn that to stop the dementors from affecting him, but then he realised that the entire room was focused on him. Every student, even the ones that had never believed him, were watching him as if he held the answers to all their problems.

"Yes, I can cast that. And it was Buffy and Professor Lupin that taught me how. If anyone can teach us what we need to know, it's Buffy."

She nodded in thanks, looking around the room at the students who were now watching between her and Harry with looks of awe. Some of them looked as if they had just been given a wake-up call, and were looking at the world in a completely different light.

"The option is yours. If you want to learn this then you have the chance now. There is a catch though, because this must go unnoticed by Delores Umbridge, as well as anyone who is not a member."

Hermione stood and held out a piece of paper then, it was the one she had enchanted earlier in the week and it already had her, Buffy, Harry and Ron's names scrawled across the top. "If you want to join you'll need to write your name here. Anyone who tells Delores, or any other member of staff about the meetings, will get a nasty surprise."

"So, who's up for it?" Buffy asked. Quietly she wondered if any of them would leave now and tell Umbridge before they wrote their names down, but she needn't have worried. Amazingly the entire room stood and made their way into a line, each student trying to write their name on the enchanted paper.

Buffy let out a sigh of relief and stood back. "Great, I'll get word out to you all about the first meeting as soon as I can." She told them all, looking down (and sometimes up) at their happy, smiling faces.

"We need a name." Hermione said, "We can't just say 'the meeting' all the time. It's way too obvious."

"Hm, you're right..." Buffy made a thinking face but Harry beat her to it.

"Dumbledore's Army. Everyone here is loyal to Dumbledore, that was one of the qualities you wanted, right? We should call it the DA."

Hermione grinned, "That's perfect, Harry."

The other students all nodded around him and Buffy shrugged. It seemed like the kids had decided that part for her.

Once everyone had signed their names, Hermione took the paper back and wrote 'Dumbledore's Army' at the very top, before handing it to Buffy.

The school bell chimed to signal the start of the day and one by one the group of students said their goodbyes and vanished through the door to head up to their first class of the day. It didn't take long for Buffy to be left on her own again.

Her eyes were drawn down to the name on the page.

The DA, Dumbledore's Army.

If only they knew just how much trouble they would be in if Cornelius Fudge ever heard of it.


	29. The Start of Something

**THE RETURN**

**Disclaimer:** All Btvs and HP characters belong to their respective owners and as always I'm not making any profit from this fic.

* * *

Chapter 29: The Start of Something

Buffy grinned to herself as she stepped inside the Room of Requirement, finding it full of enthusiastic students who were all happily chatting together. She had been afraid that they wouldn't find the place, since so many people lived and worked at Hogwarts without ever knowing of the rooms existence.

As one, all the students turned to face her, looking up to their leader and teacher.

"Hey everyone." She said as she walked further into the room, getting a good look at what the room had given her.

There was a huge fireplace in the middle of the back wall, burning brightly to keep them all warm. Right by the main doors was a large board, where a timetable and a list of subjects to be covered was hung, along with some writings and an old photograph of the original Order of the Phoenix. Rows of training dummies sat along the far wall, all of them dressed in dark robes with masks on their faces. There were some crash mats already laid on the floor, a punching bag hung to one side and even a pommel horse.

Buffy felt her mouth hang open as she spotted the glass cabinet in the corner. Inside was a whole array of shining weapons, from long swords to crossbows and daggers. Luckily there was a huge lock on the door, but Buffy knew it wouldn't take long before she would be digging through it herself.

Overall, it was just like her old training room back at the Magic Box in Sunnydale, only bigger and with lots of small people running around it.

"It looks great in here." Harry commented as he walked up to her, gesturing around themselves.

"Yeah, it's even better than I imagined." She replied, not bothering to keep the glee out of her voice.

"Right then, let's get started." She said with a clap of her hands. "Everyone have their wands at the ready?"

The students all held up their wands with pride. In their recent DADA classes, wands were not permitted, so it made a nice change to see them all holding on to them.

"Okay, this is what we're gonna do..."

An hour and a half later Buffy stared around the room with a brilliant smile on her face. It was amazing how all the students had just got on with it, all of them so willing to learn.

She had split the group in half, letting them choose which side they wanted to be on and set them different tasks depending on what they had wanted to learn. She had taken half to one side to work on their defensive moves, and Harry had taken the others to learn some spell work.

On Harry's side they were standing with the practice dummies, learning to disarm someone using the 'expelliamus' spell. Harry had been nervous at first, having all his friends looking to him to lead them, but he'd soon gotten into the swing of things, and from the looks of it, he had done a very good job. Buffy had been checking up on them every so often, and every single one of Harry's students had managed to perform the spell perfectly.

And on the other side with Buffy was the students who had wanted to learn more about physical defence, and of course Buffy had been more than happy to show them as much as she could. Some of them were practising their punches on training dummies, some were practising in pairs, and others were doing simple training exercises to work on their fitness levels.

At the end of the hour and a half session, everyone had seemingly achieved something, and that was more than Buffy could have asked for.

"Ok guys, everyone gather round." She yelled out as she checked her watch. It was almost time for them to leave or they would miss out on their other lessons, not that any of them wanted to leave.

"You guys have done great today, I'm so proud of you all." She smiled down at them all, noticing how they all seemed energetic and happy too, it was a complete contrast to how they usually looked in DADA class. "We'll schedule in the next class for a week from today, same time, same place. I do have a class half way through though, so I'll be leaving Harry in charge while I'm gone. That okay, Harry?"

He looked surprised, but pleased at the same time. He nodded and Buffy grinned back, happy that he was willing to help out with the teaching. Besides her, he was probably the best teacher in the whole group anyway.

"Okay, so that's sorted. I'll see you all here next week!"

The students all chatted together as they grabbed up their bags and left, Buffy making sure that there was no one hanging outside in the corridors that might spot them.

And then finally Buffy, Harry, Ron and Hermione walked back to her classroom together, carrying some supplies that Buffy had brought with her.

"We done great today, I learnt so much!" Ron said, although he kept his voice down to avoid them being overheard.

"Yeah, and you were great, Harry." Hermione added, "I've never seen so many people getting the spells right within just a few tries."

"That was pretty cool." He nodded.

Ron laughed, "Nah, the best part was getting to beat up Neville." And upon seeing the looks he received from both Buffy and Hermione he stuttered to continue, "I mean, practising my punches while he practised blocking of course..."

"That sounds better, Ronald."

"My name is Ron!"

Buffy ignored the now arguing students as they finally found their way inside her classroom and she spotted a package sitting on her desk, bound by some brown string. It was the latest copy of the Daily Prophet along with a few other letters, but she wasn't interested in those.

Untying the string, she unfolded out the paper and gasped.

Hermione, Ron and Harry joined her then, pausing their argument to look at what had caught her attention. The three of them copied her exactly, gasping at the headline that was written in deep, bold letters.

The main headline of the Daily Prophet read: _"Mass Break Out From Azkaban!"_

* * *

As soon as she got the chance, Buffy used the floo network to get back home, the newspaper firmly in her grasp.

When she finally stepped out from the fireplace and into the living room she looked around the empty room. The house looked dark and everything was silent and still. Normally that would have set warning bells off in her head, but tonight she found the quiet to be rather peaceful.

The day had started so well, what with the DA and all, and now all she wanted was to curl up on the couch and sleep for a week. It looked so inviting, all she had to do was lay down and rest her head for a bit, and try and ignore everything else going on around them. It seemed like a better idea than to actually admit that bad things were happening outside.

"Ignorance is bliss..." She muttered to herself before she shook her head of her thoughts. She couldn't do that.

The sudden sound of movement in the kitchen caught her attention and she let out a deep breath as she moved silently through the house, her ears trying to pick up on who she was hearing. But all she could hear was someone shuffling around, the sound of fabric moving, and it was impossible to say whether it was Remus, Sirius or Tonks. Or even someone who was not meant to be in the house...

And then a clatter of pans sounded as something fell to the floor with a crash.

Feeling more than a little anxious now, and preparing herself to run into some monster that was ransacking their kitchen cupboards, Buffy rushed through the door and instantly skidded to a stop.

The first thing she saw was a blur of colour to her left. Bright pink and brown. And then she quickly realised it was her brother and Tonks, standing together...

And just as quickly the pair had bolted apart from each other, moving faster than she had ever seen either of them move. They were both breathing quickly, as if they were short of breath, Remus was staring at Buffy with a look of pure horror on his face while Tonks was quickly turning a shade of bright pink that matched her hair perfectly.

"Okay..." Buffy said, drawing her word out as she stared wide eyed at the pair of them. "I'm not even asking."

Tonks and Remus sent each other identical looks before Remus cleared his throat and gestured to the door. "I'm uh... going... now."

He practically ran for the door, closing it behind him and Buffy turned to a pouting Tonks. "What was that all about?"

Her friend let out a deep sigh, "How comes you came back again so soon?"

Buffy let her eyebrows rise upwards, putting on a mock hurt expression. "Is that how you always greet your friends who have just returned home?"

"Uh, no. But you know what I mean." Tonks said with a sigh, gesturing to the door where Remus had just escaped through.

"No, I really don't."

"But we were... you know...?"

Buffy let a small smile escape from her, she had an idea about what they had been up to. The 'caught in the cookie jar' expressions had told her everything. "You mean how you two were making out in the kitchen?"

Ignoring the teasing look in Buffy's eyes, Tonks shook her head and placed her hands on her hips. "No actually, that didn't happen. Maybe it would have ifsomeone hadn't barged in without knocking."

Completely missing Tonks words Buffy scoffed, "Knocking? This is my home too, you know? And you're standing in the kitchen remember? Wait, did you just say..?"

Tonks' grin was big enough to answer the question on it's own. "Oh yeah."

"And when did this all happen?" Buffy asked, gesturing between the door and Tonks.

"I don't know really, I guess we were just working together and I suddenly realised how amazing and..." Tonks looked up to Buffy in an apologetic way, "...hot he is. Is that weird?"

"No, no of course not. It's kinda cute. Cute and totally gross but hey, I'm happy for you." Buffy let out a girlish squeal and pulled her friend in for a long hug.

When they pulled apart Tonks was smiling but she had a dark, saddened look in her eyes. "I don't know if Remus likes me back... At least not in the way I like him."

Buffy shook her head, "Oh come on, from what it looked like to me, you were this close to snogging him senseless." She held up her thumb and index finger to represent how close the pair of them had been to that moment. "Trust me, he wouldn't have let it go that far if he didn't feel anything at all for you."

"I guess. He's going to avoid me like the plague now, isn't he?" Tonks asked.

"Probably, and me too by the looks of it." Buffy laughed sending her friend a bright smile and a wink, "Don't worry, I'll talk to him and push him in your direction."

"That would be great." Tonks grinned back. "Oh I really like him."

Buffy grinned as she threw her newspaper down to the table and slung her arm around Tonks' shoulders, intent on leading her out of the room and into the living room.

She would talk to them about the break out later, right now they could all use some time talking about good, happy things.


	30. Troubled Sleep

**THE RETURN**

**Disclaimer:** All Btvs and HP characters belong to their respective owners and as always I'm not making any profit from this fic.

* * *

Chapter 30: Troubled Sleep

She was standing in the dark. Not the dark as in being outside after sundown, with the moon shining down on you. No this was pitch black, the 'can't see your own hand in front of your face' kind of dark.

And even though she couldn't sense anything ready to jump out on her, she couldn't stop the fear that pushed through her, couldn't stop how fast her heart was beating.

_"The Earth is doomed..."_

A single voice echoed around her, and Buffy jumped and spun around, seeing nothing but black. It had been Giles' voice, and it had sounded as if he was standing right behind her. But of course he couldn't be, he was in another world, right?

"Giles?" Her own voice was quiet as she called out. Already knowing that there would be no answer.

She sighed, closed her eyes and tried to remember what she had been doing just a moment before, before all of this had started.

_"Do you know what I found worked real good with Slayers..?"_ Another familiar voice, one that had her opening her eyes and looking around for a glimpse of his bright blonde hair, that leather duster flapping behind him. But she was all alone.

_"...Killing them."_

_"I don't know if I can lead. But the real question is: can you follow?"_

"Boring, boring, boring... Astonishingly boring. We have to kill some cooler people... Will somebody remind me?"

"The important thing is, you made me the man I am today."

"You can never hope to grasp the source of our power... But yours is right here."

"You killed me..."

"Tonight, I shall walk the earth. And the stars themselves will hide!"

"I'm sorry, I didn't catch that last part on account of her neck snapping and all. Did she say the end is near... Or here?"

"Death, is your gift."

With a growl her hands raised over her ears, trying desperately to block out the voices echoing around her, but they continued on until she was on her knees, screaming out for them to stop.

"Shut up! Shut up!"

When the echo of her own voice vanished, everything was silent again. The voices had stopped.

Buffy lifted her head, suddenly noticing a pair of brown boots that were standing in front of her. Her gaze followed up the legs of the person looming over her, all the way up until she saw the familiar dark hair, the familiar smirk, and the oh so familiar dark gleam in Faith's eyes.

"Faith? What are you doing here?" She asked as she slowly rose to her feet, never taking her eyes away from her fellow Slayer.

"You're askin' me? This is your dream, B..."

Buffy smiled, a sense of relief flooding over her, and she done something she never, ever imagined she would do. She grabbed Faith and hugged her.

When she pulled back she was grinning, but Faith only looked uncomfortable. Shifting in her place and clearing her throat, "Well, that was awkward."

Buffy laughed, "Is this real? Are we both dreaming right now?" At Faith's blank look she shrugged, "I guess there's no way to tell. It doesn't matter anyway."

She studied Faith, who didn't at all seem surprised to see her. And she wondered briefly if her friends back in Sunnydale had ever thought she was dead or just missing. Surely it would have been a shock to see her again if they thought she was dead...

"How have you been? How's everyone doing? Is Dawn all right?"

Faith blinked at her multitude of questions, finally letting a grin appear on her dark lips. "Five by five, B. We're all doin' good."

Buffy let out a sigh of relief, even if this Faith wasn't the real Faith, it was somewhat comforting to hear of her friends being okay.

"What's with this place?" Faith asked as she moved her arms to gesture to the vast space around them.

"I don't know. But like you said, this is my dream... apparently."

"So do something then. It's starting to freak me out." Faith said.

"Like what? It's not like there's a door anywhere-" Buffy cut off her sentence sharply as a door suddenly appeared in front of them. It was closed, but they could see the light shinning out from around the edges.

"Quick, say you want a million dollars!" Faith cheered, spinning to face Buffy with a grin, "Or a-"

"No." Buffy told her, "Whatever it is, just no."

Faith pouted but followed Buffy over to the door. After a minute of bracing themselves, the blonde Slayer grabbed the knob and pulled, and the next thing either of them knew, they were standing on a field of green grass, a huge castle towering above them and a lake running beside their feet.

"Whoa, this is getting trippy." Faith commented as she stared around.

"Hogwarts. We're at Hogwarts." Buffy said to herself, wondering why, of all places she had been brought back here.

"Right, 'cause that explains everything..."

Buffy ignored Faith and looked out over the school. It still looked its same old, perfect self. "Why would my dream take me to Hogwarts? And why you? You're not from this world, you have no idea what this is."

Faith shrugged, "I guess I'm your guide. You know how these things work, B. There's obviously something you need to learn, I'm just here to make sure you get it."

Suddenly there was a giant flash of lightning, and all too quickly the blue sky above them turned dark, grey and cloudy. Black smoke rose high above the castle, forming a symbol that sent most sane people running for cover. The dark mark.

"Ooh, that doesn't look good. Maybe we should go over there, wherever that is." Faith pointed up towards the castle.

Buffy took off at a run before Faith could even utter another word, racing up the steep hills as fast as she could.

Eventually she found her way to the main entrance of the school, the entrance that she used almost every day. But what she saw there stopped her in her tracks.

The entire entrance was filled with students and death eaters fighting against each other. There were spells being fired in every direction, great beams of light whizzing all over the place. There were bodies littering the ground, some of them death eaters, but the majority of them were students, students that she knew. Kids, fighting to their death.

There were great creatures there too. Vampires, trolls, centaurs... And all of them were fighting each other, fighting the school.

Faith finally caught up to her side and gasped at the scene in front of them. "What the hell is going on?"

Buffy found that she had to shout over the noises of the ensuing battle. "They're fighting against Voldemort's followers. We have to go." Without waiting for an answer, Buffy sped through the crowd and further into the school, Faith close behind her.

She turned through corridor after corridor, resisting the urge to stay and help every student who was fighting, but in her mind she remembered that this was a dream, none of it was real. The cold, pale faces of the dead would be alive and well and full of colour as soon as she woke up again.

She made her way to Dumbledore's office, ran through the doors and skidded to a stop. The old wizard was not seated in his chair behind his desk, in fact the entire room looked different, as if all traces of Dumbledore had been removed, save for his portrait hanging on the wall. And that alone was not a good sign.

With annoyance building up in her, Buffy turned and ran back the way they'd come, Faith huffing behind her.

She had barely reached the bottom of the steps when she was forced to stop again. A large group of death eaters were walking towards them, laughing as they fired off random spells at anyone who crossed their path. The death eater at the front of the group, the leader, was covered entirely by black robes that were obviously much to big for their smaller frame, even the hood hid their face from view.

But as they neared the death eater lifted their head, and Buffy caught a glimpse of blonde hair and a flash of a menacing grin that looked familiar. In an instant that glimpse was gone, the hood lowered again.

Buffy glared, keeping her place by the stairs as the group advanced on her and Faith. But they didn't slow down, they just kept walking until they slid right through the two Slayers, as if they had never been there in the first place.

"We're ghosts?" Faith asked, sounding confused.

"So it seems..." Buffy replied slowly, trying to shake off feeling that she knew that death eater. Somehow she knew it was important, but she just couldn't think of who it had been...

Faith had wandered away from her now, fearlessly walking through the various people with a grin on her face, and then she paled. "Ugh, this doesn't look good."

Buffy raced over to her side, seeing what had caught her attention.

Just down the corridor from them stood Voldemort. He had his back to them but he was facing towards Harry, who was standing alone looking battered and bruised and very young. Too young to be facing off against Voldemort.

As the two slayers neared Buffy realised that the two were talking to each other, but she couldn't hear what they were saying. It was almost as if someone had put a bubble around them, stopped anyone on the outside from listening in.

And then, from out of nowhere, Voldemort lifted his wand with a yell, and a shot of green light flashed across Buffy's vision. Harry fell to his knees and Buffy screamed as she ran to him, her body running right through Voldemort who vanished in a puff of smoke as if he had been a ghost all along.

As soon as her fingers touched Harry's arm, he vanished too. And then slowly the death eaters around them and all the students vanished, one after the other until it was just Buffy and Faith left, standing alone in the corridor.

The school seemed to brighten up slightly, as if all the darkness had left and only the good remained.

Buffy stared down at her hands, still on her knees where she had been ready to catch Harry's lifeless body.

"B? You all right?" Faith asked as she came to stand beside her friend. "What was that?"

"My worst nightmare... That's what it was." She replied as she stood. "This is a warning of what is to come."

"An apocalypse?" Faith asked, although she seemed completely lost.

"Yes..."

Faith scoffed, "Then what's with the long face? Hello, we've been there, done that, got the t-shirt. How many of these things have you stopped before? You can just do it again."

"But how? I don't know how." Buffy told her, desperation in her voice. "The war hasn't even begun yet, not really. How am I supposed to know when it'll all happen? Or how to stop this," she gestured around her, "from happening?"

"Hey you're Buffy Summers, right? Trouble follows you wherever you go." Seeing the sceptical look on Buffy's face, Faith grinned. "Oh come on, you'll probably wake up and find some stupid prophecy that will tell you everything you need to know and-"

"A prophecy..?"

Faith nodded, rolling her eyes for good measure. "Sure, what's the use of an apocalypse without a good old prophecy?" She paused. "Why do you have that look on your face? Don't tell me you already know the prophecy and just forgot about it!"

Buffy looked up, unaware that she had been pulling any kind of face. "I did hear a prophecy once... But it was a long time ago and it's already happened..."

"Are ya sure?" Faith drawled, starting to look bored of their conversation. When she looked back Buffy let out a deep, saddened breath. Faith's body was starting to vanish now too.

Obviously she had heard what she needed to hear. Seen what she needed to see. But it still didn't make much sense to her.

"Faith, I-"

"Yeah, yeah. Leave it for next time." Faith told her with a smile, a real genuine smile that Buffy hadn't seen from her in years.

A loud banging sound erupted from around them, and with a jolt Faith was gone and Buffy was sitting upright in her bed, her sheets tangled around her ankles.

The banging came again and again, until she finally realised that is was someone knocking on her door. Pulling back the bedsheets, Buffy rose to her feet feeling more than a little anxious, and made her way across her bedroom and to the small living area of her rooms.

She unlocked and pulled back the door just as Professor McGonagall was about to zap the door with some spell, no doubt to unlock it herself.

"I'm sorry to wake you at such an hour." She said, hastily slipping her wand back in a pocket. "We need you. Harry needs you."

Buffy nodded and instantly followed the other teacher through the darkened halls. "What happened?" She asked, her throat feeling raspy and dry. And she couldn't help how her mind flashed with the image of Voldemort killing Harry.

"Harry had a dream or vision, of Arthur Weasley being attacked by Voldemort. It turned out to be true... Arthur's family have been contacted and we've sent someone to get him to safety. But Harry is in a state of shock and is rather upset. We thought it would be best to call you..."

"Harry dreamt of it before it happened?"

"No, while it was happening. He said it was almost as if he was there." The older teacher told her with a grim face.

Buffy nodded, hearing the hidden words in that sentence as if she had spoken them out loud. They'd always known there was some kind of connection between Harry and Voldemort, just not how it really worked.

And now Harry was dreaming of the things that Voldemort was doing... That was dangerous enough on its own, but if Voldemort was aware of it...

Buffy sighed as she padded through the corridors in her spotted pyjamas. It couldn't be a coincidence that she had had a dream of the war on the same night that Harry dreamt of the attack on Arthur.

But at least it seemed she had already answered one of her questions: Voldemort had made the first move on the proverbial chess board. Now it was up to the Order to choose how to play their own piece...


	31. The Offer

**THE RETURN**

**Disclaimer:** All Btvs and HP characters belong to their respective owners and as always I'm not making any profit from this fic.

* * *

Chapter 31: The Offer

Christmas time had once again come around, and as always the entire Lupin/Black/Potter family and all their friends came together for the holiday season.

Sirius had let them all stay at Grimmauld place and just like the year before, Mrs. Weasley and Buffy, with additional help from Tonks, had prepared the feast for them all. Although this year was slightly more special.

For starters Arthur had finally been allowed home from the hospital after his injuries, and the entire Weasley family were especially grateful to Harry for having his vision of the attack in the first place.

And secondly everyone was quickly catching up on the ongoing 'will they, won't they' situation with Remus and Tonks. Something that amused Buffy to no end as it gave her ample opportunities to tease her big brother.

But no matter how much she teased him, no matter how many times they laughed together, her mind always went back to her dream. To the growing darkness that would soon smother them all.

So when the sun finally set and the half moon rose high into the night's sky, Buffy was glad to be able to get out of the house, to breathe in some fresh, cool air and to hunt down some vampires. Because beating on the undead was a sure fire way to get her back in a good mood.

Barely five minutes into her usual patrol route and she came across two vampires that had been arguing over a young, unconscious girl who had obviously passed in shock out after seeing them.

Buffy waited patiently behind them while they argued over who was going to get the first taste of the girl, completely unaware of their silent observer.

"You know I actually think you vamps might get even more stupid every year..." She commented, just as the two were about to start fighting each other.

They spun to face her, looking alarmed that someone had crept up on them. "Who are you?"

She let a long sigh leave her as she absently twirled the wooden stake in her hand.

"What's that?" The second vampire asked, pointing to the stake with a look of fear.

"Oh, this?" Buffy paused her twirling, holding up the stake for them to see. "This is Mr. Pointy II, and I'm here to introduce him to your heart."

The first vampire growled, charging forward with hunger and madness in his eyes, but that only made him sloppy. Buffy easily sidestepped him, sticking her foot out to trip him up.

The second vampire, which she assumed was the smarter of the two because he looked as if he was contemplating turning and running from her, stepped forward slowly, as if he was going to circle her.

But Buffy had other ideas. She leapt forward, jumping straight over his head and landing a kick on his back, sending him sprawling head first to the floor just like his friend.

"This is way too easy," Buffy said as she watched the pair of them get back to their feet slowly, "At least make it a challenge for me."

"All right..."

Buffy spun at the new voice, instinctively ducking low to the ground and rolling to the side. She watched as a flash of light sailed through the air, missing her by miles thanks to her slayer reflexes.

As she lifted her head she took in the newcomer. A tall man, dressed in all black, with a dark mask covering his face and a wooden wand in his hand. Yup, no mistaking it, he was definitely a death eater.

A snarl came from the man as he shot his wand forward again, and Buffy dived to the side, hearing an explosion from where the spell had hit behind her. One of the vampires was screaming, now covered in flames from head to toe after being caught in the crossfire. The other one gave the pair of them a wide-eyed look before he took off at a run, getting as far a distance from them as possible. He really was the smart one.

The vampire that was on fire slowly crumbled to ash as Buffy stood again, staring off her new opponent who was not quite as strong or fast as the vampires, but had the advantage of magic and long distance attacks.

"What do you want?" She said, glaring at the man. Of course Voldemort's followers were out and about killing people who opposed him, which she supposed put her on the very top of his hit list, but still she hadn't thought they would know where to find her.

"We want you to come with us." Said another voice, and there was a rush of wind from behind her. Buffy rolled her eyes, taking a step back and to the side until she could see the two death eaters, one of them on either side of her.

"Huh, that's a new one." She said, more to herself than to them. "Unfortunately I have places I need to be, so how about I don't?"

"We didn't ask you to come with us. It is an order." The first death eater told her with an air of arrogance.

"Oh, an order is it? Too bad. I don't usually get along with people who try and order me around. And it usually ends badly for anyone who does... Feel free to run away screaming in fear, now's your only chance."

The pair of them laughed together, ignoring her words completely as if they knew something that she didn't.

"You will come with us." The first said, and she could almost hear the grin on his face even if she couldn't see it through his mask.

Instantly there was another whoosh of air, another plume of black smoke that hit the ground and another death eater stepping forward. She moved positions again until she could see all three of them, and grimaced as she realised the third death eater was none other than Barty Crouch, her least favourite death eater...

"So we meet again, Slayer." he said, grinning like a mad-man.

Buffy's eyes widened in surprise and she saw Barty's grin grow even bigger. So he knew what she was then. That wasn't good news. Voldemort obviously knew now too, and that was why he'd sent out his death eaters after her. Not to kill her, but to take her to him.

"You will come with us, or we will make you." He said, repeating what his friend had said earlier.

As far as she could see it, she had two options. Either to stand and fight, or to willingly be dragged to Voldemort...

"Like Hell I am!"

Hoping to take them off guard, she sprung forward, barging straight into Barty who stumbled backwards. She fell with him, but used his body to break her fall, rolling away and back to a standing position.

Two shots of light flew past her, but she dodged to the side of them, throwing her stake away and pulling out her own wand. She fired off her own blast of light, which connected with her enemies next spell, cancelling it out in mid-air.

Jumping to her feet again Buffy rushed towards the first death eater, running at full speed.

_"Everte Statum!"_ Her spell hit him in the chest, and he immediately doubled over in pain. As soon as she reached his side, her fist connected with his head, and he fell to the ground unconscious.

The second death eater and Barty were advancing on her now, but she didn't give them much time to act.

_"Impedimenta!"_ The second death eater's steps stopped suddenly, looking very much like he had just walked into solid but invisible wall.

Buffy grinned, turning her attention to Barty, the last remaining enemy. He was staring at her with something akin to fear in his eyes and she knew exactly what he was thinking. He had thought she would be easy to defeat, that the three death eaters would have no problems bringing her in to their master, but he hadn't bet on her learning more, on her being stronger both magically and physically than she had been when they'd last met.

She saw something pass over him, and she knew she wasn't going to like what he was about to do. He held his wand up in the air, pointed up towards the heavens, and screamed out.

_"Morsmordre!"_

Instantly a flash erupted from his wand, shooting high into the sky. And seconds later a dark face formed in the clouds above. Dark, black smoke swished into the dark mark right above their position. He was sending out a signal, a cry for help and she just knew that the other death eaters, and maybe even Voldemort himself, would come to his aid.

Buffy cursed as she ran for him, ready to tackle him to the ground. But she never got there. A cry echoed around her, and the next thing she knew her entire body was writhing in pain. It shot around her like electricity, a never ending circuit.

She saw Barty standing just out of her reach, grinning crazily as her legs collapsed under her own body. She hit the ground hard, seeing the flash of black smoke as more death eaters arrived nearby.

The curse lifted from her as a cloaked death eater stepped up next to her, grabbing her by the arm as if he was going to drag her up to her feet. But she wasn't going to let them catch her that easily.

She grabbed the mans arm, twisting it painfully until she heard a loud crunch and the man backed off immediately.

"Out of the way!"

She turned at Barty's shout and saw a group of maybe six or seven death eaters approaching her, all with their wands held out at her. She sprung to her feet, charging right at them as if they were bowling pins and she the ball. But once again she never made the hit. As one they cried out a curse that had her tripping, falling back to the grass as the currents of pain shot through her entire body.

It didn't take long for her will to give up. She willingly welcomed the darkness that followed.

* * *

When she finally awoke Buffy winced at the sudden pain that sprung through her mind. Her head felt as if someone had smacked her with a troll god's hammer, and her entire body ached.

She slowly lifted her head from the ground, seeing that she was lying on a cold, hard concrete floor. She was in a cell, in a dark room that had no windows, no light apart from a few torches lit by flames, and it was freezing cold.

There was a single figure standing watch in front of the door to her cell, a tall intimidating form dressed all in black. But this time there was no mask, and she recognised who it was instantly.

Lucius Malfoy.

Despite the pain in her head, she couldn't help but grin at the fist sized bruise that was spread across the side of his face, and she knew then that he had been the first death eater to talk to her in the graveyard, the one she had knocked unconscious with a single blow. It seemed like his mask had stopped the majority of the force behind her hit, but it had still left a very obvious mark.

"You're awake then, finally." He said as crossed his arms over his chest, looking unhappy.

"Hm, how's your face, Lucius? That looks painful." She laughed, noting how her voice sounded croaky, probably from the lack of water. And who knew how long she had been cooped up in that cage for.

Lucius didn't seem to appreciate her joke. Instead of answering he simply pulled out his wand. The clink of chains was the first clue to what he was up to, and then just as suddenly her hands were tied in front of her, bound by a thick chain that she instinctively knew she wouldn't be able to break by force.

He used his wand to unlock the cell door and stepped forward, his wand pointed directly at her head.

"If you really think that this," she nodded towards her now bound hands, "is going to stop me from attacking you, then you're a lot dumber than I thought you were."

"Unfortunately for you, I'm not." He replied, gesturing to something further into the room, to something that she couldn't see from her position. The sound of footsteps announced the arrival of six more death eaters, all of whom stopped in front of her with their wands held out. Obviously none of them trusted her.

"Up." Lucius ordered, keeping his wand trailing on her as she stood. She had no chance to fight back now. One death eater at a close range she could handle with no problems, but seven? There really wasn't much point in getting herself injured further.

When Lucius gestured for her to step out she complied, suddenly being grabbed on either side by a pair of death eaters. The others held their wands at her, watching her intently as they moved through the room.

Lucius grinned at her, loving that he had her caught and helpless. "And you are obviously smarter than I gave you credit for."

Buffy ignored him, keeping her eyes focused on where they were taking her. The room she was being kept in was lined with cells, just like the one she had been in, but all of them were empty.

At the end of the room was a metal gate, which she was roughly shoved through, and then a set of stairs that led up to a door. Once they emerged outside, Buffy realised that they were actually inside someone's home.

The room they were standing in now was so obviously a living room. There was a huge couch, a coffee table and lots of decorations on the walls, mostly old canvas paintings of various people. Briefly Buffy had to wonder on just whose house this was, and why they had a set of dungeons in the basement...

She was pushed through another set of doors, these ones big and wooden, until she entered a large room that she guessed had once been the dinning room. A huge table spread through one side of the room, chairs placed around it, and at the very end was a single high-backed chair that was draped in a black satin throw. It all looked very throne-like.

There were various people standing in the room, no doubt waiting for her, and as she was dragged to the throne and ceremoniously dumped there by the death eaters, she let her eyes wander the room.

Lucius had gone to stand at the side with a blonde woman, who Buffy vaguely remembered to be his wife, Narcissa, and his son Draco who stood just between them. Draco looked up and for a split second their eyes met from across the room, surprise and concern eating away at his expression.

As if it wasn't bad enough that he, a kid, had been dragged into this, another figure stepped up besides the family and Buffy felt her jaw drop. Severus was standing there with them, looking completely neutral as if he had been in this situation many times before.

Her mind tried to come up with a reasonable excuse for him to be there, but in the end it always came back to the fact that he had lied to her. Obviously he was a death eater, and it made her feel sick that she had stood up for him for all this time. Was he the reason she was there now? Had he told Voldemort what she was? Where to find her?

Her thoughts were cut off abruptly by the sound of high-heeled shoes clicking against the cold marble floor, and a set of black boots stopped in front of her.

Her gaze followed the boots upwards, seeing the long, black dress that had various rips and tears in it, the pale, almost grey coloured skin, the dark curly hair that seemed to stick out in every direction and finally, the craziest grin she had ever seen. And that was saying something, she'd seen her fair share of craziness from Faith to last a lifetime.

Buffy smiled, although it didn't reach her eyes as she looked over the familiar woman. Once upon a time she had thought her to be beautiful, as flawless as a doll... but now she was barely a shadow of her former beauty. "Bellatrix Lestrange. I guess I should have known you'd be here."

Bellatrix's grin grew even wider, "And I never thought I would see or hear of you again, Isabella."

Buffy kept her face neutral, "How was Azkaban? I hear it gets a little cold this time of year."

"Azkaban could not hold me, dear Isabella." Bellatrix laughed, her shrill cries echoing around the room.

"Yeah, I heard about that." Buffy told her with a straight face, "I bet it sucks to know that your cousin broke out all on his own while you had to go and call for help..."

Buffy watched as Bellatrix's laugh faded away, replaced by an icy glare. "Don't you speak to me of that traitor!" She lifted her hand as if to slap Buffy but someone caught her by the wrist and stopped her.

Bellatrix looked behind her with surprise, but her eyes softened immediately. "My Lord."

Voldemort let go of her then, stepping around her to stand in front of his throne and look down at Buffy, who was still sitting on the floor. "Our guest is not to be harmed, Bellatrix."

"I apologise, my Lord." The dark haired witch stepped back, holding her head low, but her eyes remained glued to Buffy as if she was waiting for her to make a move.

"Guest?" Buffy repeated incredulously. "This is how you treat guests? Wow, I'd hate to see how you treat your real captives..."

Voldemort ignored her words, taking a seat at his throne and settling himself in as if he was king of the castle and he had all time in the world. And then his gaze shifted to her, his eyes suddenly looking very serious, his lips pressed together tightly. "Do you know why I have brought you here, Isabella?"

She let out a small breath of laughter, "What's with everyone here calling me that?" No one answered her so she looked up, meeting his crimson eyes head on. "I'm gonna take a wild guess and say that you want something from me."

He sat forward in his chair, leaning his elbows on his legs so that he could stare down at her. "I have an offer for you, an offer that you will take if you have any good sense. You are the Slayer, and I want you to join me. Do so, and I will leave your family alone. I won't try to find them, and I won't attempt to harm them."

"My family? Do you mean my literal family? Or does that extend to anyone _I_ consider to be my family?" She already knew the answer, but she wanted to see what he would say. How far would he go to get her on his team?

Voldemort only stared at her, before he sat back in his chair, never taking his eyes off her.

"I guess there's my answer. What a surprise." She said quietly to herself.

"If you join me I will spare your family," He repeated, his tone suddenly sounding harsher than it had a few seconds ago. "This is a fair deal. Do you not wish to guarantee the wolf's safety? Will you join me?"

"Well it is a pretty good offer, I must admit..." She started, doing her best not to sound too sarcastic, "but there is one teeny, tiny little snag... I don't work with crazy evil guys. That plus I really don't like your dress sense, I mean seriously you need to change your wardrobe. All that black is doing nothing for your complexion."

Voldemort stayed as still as a statue, but it was Bellatrix that gasped and stepped forward, an angry scowl on her face. "How dare you insult the Dark Lord! You will pay for your insolence!" She grabbed Buffy by the hair and pulled her to her feet, the tip of her wand pressed right against her cheek.

"Bellatrix, do not make me repeat myself." Voldemort said, stopping her from actually doing anything to Buffy. With a look of pure disgust, Bellatrix let her go, glaring when Buffy smiled sweetly at her.

"I apologise. But she will not bow down to you, Master. Let me take care of this and I will ensure that she does not cause you any more trouble." Bellatrix told him with a small bow of her own.

"No, no harm will come to her from you." He replied, lifting a hand and clicking his fingers. In response the death eaters straightened and stepped forward, some of them grabbing her by the arms and restraining her again while others pointed their wands at her.

"I see we are getting nowhere today. We shall try again tomorrow. And if she still resists then she is all yours, Bellatrix."

The dark haired witch grinned, "I can't wait."

Buffy only rolled her eyes and willingly walked as she was shoved back the way she had been brought, back to her cell.

She was given a hard push into the small cage and the door was slammed shut behind her, the death eaters laughing as they magically locked the door and removed her chains. Within moments they had left her alone in the dark.

She understood that having a slayer on his side would benefit Voldemort, she would be a useful ally in the war, but why would he go to such lengths to ensure that she join him? Why didn't he want her to be harmed? What was so important about her?

And most important of all, how was she going to get herself out of this?


	32. A Matter of Trust

**THE RETURN**

**Disclaimer:** All Btvs and HP characters belong to their respective owners and as always I'm not making any profit from this fic.

**A/N: **As always, many thanks to everyone reading and reviewing. More coming very soon! :)

* * *

Chapter 32: A Matter Of Trust

Buffy awoke to the sound of the metal gate creaking open and quiet footsteps making their way over to her.

She opened her eyes slowly, seeing that she was still in the same cell, in that same dark room. She had no idea how long she had been held there for and since there were no windows she couldn't even tell if it was day or night. All she knew was that her small nap had given her a burst of energy, had helped her bruised and aching body repair itself.

A dark figure stepped into her line of vision, and Buffy sat up so that her back touched the wall, her legs folded to the side. The man outside her cell didn't look too happy to be there, but he was holding a metal tray with what looked like food in, and his wand of course.

"Aw, you brought me a snack?" She said, her voice sounding way too happy for the situation she was in. "A girl could get used to this, you know."

The man made a vague gesture and glared down at her, "If I had my way, I'd leave you down here to starve. As it is, the brat didn't want you dead and unfortunately Lord Voldemort agreed with him. I don't see why though, we don't need help from half bloods like you."

She laughed quietly to herself, obviously they did need her if Voldemort wanted to keep her alive. And the brat? Was he talking about Draco?

The death eater leant down and slid the small tray through the bars, letting it skid to a stop just in front of where Buffy sat. Her eyebrows rose as she stared at the pile of grey mush that they expected her to eat.

Without taking her eyes off the 'food' she pouted, "Huh... So how many calories are in that?"

There was a loud banging noise, as if someone had just fired a shot from a pistol, and Buffy's eyes turned back to the death eater expecting to see him raising his wand at her. But his wand was now lying on the ground at his feet, and his face had gone slack, his eyes glazed over. She watched as his legs gave way from beneath him and his entire body crumbled to the ground, his head smacking into the metal bars as he fell.

And standing right behind him was Severus, holding his wand and sporting a grimace on his face.

Buffy jumped straight to her feet, but she stayed where she was with her back to the wall. She didn't trust him enough to move any closer. Her eyes darted down to the fallen death eater and back up again. "What did you do?"

"Stunning spell. He'll be fine when he wakes up." Severus said as he used his wand to magically move the body out of his way. Then he stepped up to her cell door and pointed the tip of his wand to the lock.

He stopped then, looking up at her glaring eyes and Buffy was sure she saw a flash of hurt run across his features. "You don't trust me now, do you?"

"Why should I?" She asked, watching him intently. "You said you wasn't involved in any of this anymore, but here you are, right in the middle of it all." She couldn't help the small laugh that came to her, even though she had no real reason to laugh. Someone she had thought of as a friend, a good friend, had betrayed her, and she really did not know how to react to it.

"And to think I trusted you with my secret. Maybe the others were right about you all along, maybe I should have listened to them for once."

He kept his expression neutral, as if he was completely unaffected by her words. "Yes, maybe you should have. It doesn't matter what you think of me, I don't have a lot of time." He used his wand to unlock the door.

"Wouldn't your master be displeased if he knew you were here?" She asked, knowing that the death eaters, and that included Severus, wouldn't risk hurting her in fear of bringing Voldemort's wrath down on them. Or maybe they would, if they thought they could get away with it.

He sighed, a tired sigh. "Definitely."

He surprised her then, his hand digging into his pocket and pulling out a familiar piece of wood, before he threw it towards her. She caught it one handed, looking down at her wand with a frown.

"Why are you-" When she looked back up he was holding the cell door open for her, waiting for her to walk out. For a split second her mind registered that this might be a trap, but she really didn't want to believe that. "Wait, you're not here to beat on me? You're letting me go?"

He gave her a look that said 'duh', which only made her giggle. It was a look that she had never thought she would see on his usually stoic face.

"Well? Are you coming or not?" He asked, looking a bit annoyed now.

"Oh!" She followed him out of the cell and stepped over the unconscious death eater on the floor. "So you're not one of them after all?" She asked, her expression telling him how confused she was.

"We'll talk of this later, Buffy. Right now you have to get out of here." He kept looking back towards the gate, as if he was expecting someone to come down the stairs at any minute.

"Okay, great. So what's the plan?" She asked.

He turned back to her, "You can't cast any magic inside the cells, but now that I've gotten you out you can apparate away just fine. I'll stay behind and tell them that you escaped when you were given the food."

Her eyes widened slightly, "Okay... One, that's not exactly what I would call food, and two, I can't apparate."

"What?" He looked even more annoyed now and she could only shrug in reply. "You're telling me that you're a full grown adult who can't apparate?"

"Hello, kinda missed school the day we learnt that!" She hissed back, trying to keep her voice down even though she was quickly getting annoyed herself.

"All right, all right. We'll just need to come up with something else then..." He said, seeing that they were getting nowhere by arguing over it. "I'll distract them. You get out of here as fast as you can. There's a small inn not too far from here, they'll have a fireplace you can use to get back to Hogwarts."

"I need to go back to-"

"No, don't go there just yet." He interrupted, "I'll meet you at the school and we can talk."

She nodded even though she was desperate to get back home, to let them all know that she was okay. But Severus was right too, they did need to talk about this first so that they would be able to get their stories straight... or their lies straight as it might turn out.

Buffy looked down and hummed in thought before she nudged the death eater on the floor, turning his body over with her boot. Then she knelt down and peeled off his outer cloak, stuffing it under her arm as she righted herself. "I'm ready."

The pair of them crept through the metal gate and up into the living room. It was empty save for the creepy portraits that watched their every move, and then they were sliding through a side door and into another room.

There were a few death eaters standing in the corner, talking quietly to each other. As Severus rushed over to them, purposefully making his breath come out in pants as if he had been running, Buffy kept to the shadows and edged towards the next door.

"She's escaped!" She heard Severus say in between long breaths, and the death eaters instantly stood to attention, running back towards the cells, in the opposite direction that Buffy intended to go.

With a nod in Severus' direction, Buffy took off at a run, forcing her way through the house until she came to the main doors. Luckily for her, the death eaters were not quite as good as seeing in the dark as she was, and the house was full with dark shadows and corners.

As soon as she stepped outside into the daylight she flung the black cloak around her shoulders and nudged the hood up around her face.

Now she looked just like any other death eater out there, and hopefully they would fall for it.

With a grin on her lips she calmly walked out of the main gates of the house and into the deserted road.

* * *

Severus had been right. Barely ten minutes down the road from the manor was a small village where she had been able to find a working fireplace. She'd resisted the urge to head home, and instead followed the plan and went straight to Hogwarts.

She made it to her own classroom without meeting a single person in the hallways, which she guessed was probably a good thing considering she had been missing for a whole day.

As soon as she stepped inside she closed and locked the door behind her, turning and finding Severus already waiting for her. Suddenly she realised she felt very tense and more than a little exhausted.

"You got away all right?" he asked, nodding to the black cloak which she was still wearing.

"Yeah, you?" She shed the cloak and draped it over one of the chairs, purposefully staying standing in case she needed to get away quickly. She still wasn't sure about Severus. Yes he had helped her escape, but that didn't mean he was in the clear just yet. For all she knew, he could be pretending to help her, only to get her re-captured again... All though her mind stubbornly reminded her that there would really be no point in that...

"Yes, they think that you attacked Nott and escaped. I found Nott just after and told them." He then noticed that she was keeping her distance from him and sighed. "I just helped you escape, you would think that would have taken away any trust issues here."

She rolled her eyes, finally stepping forward and sitting opposite him. "Fine, but you have to admit, it's pretty suspicious that you were there making buddies with the death eaters. Care to explain that one?"

He looked as if that was the last thing he wanted to do, but he told her anyway, no doubt knowing that she would bug him about it until he told her.

"You know what I used to be. Of course Voldemort expected me to go back to him as soon as he was brought back, but Albus and I had planned for it. I told Voldemort that I would spy on Albus for him, when really I am spying on Voldemort. This way we get the information we need."

"You're being a double agent?" She asked incredulously. "But if Voldemort ever found out..."

"Yes, it's dangerous, I know that. But we need to know what they are up to, this is the only way."

Buffy looked into his eyes, really looked. She was pretty good at reading people, most people anyway, and she could see in his eyes, that he was telling the truth. Or at the very least, she had to believe that.

She nodded in understanding, her mixed feelings unravelling. He hadn't betrayed her after all, he wasn't a bad person like the others tried to make out, he was braver than them, risking his life every day to help them...

"I'm sorry." She said, slumping back in her chair. "I'm sorry I didn't trust you. I should have-"

"No, it's fine. You had no idea." He said, holding up his hand to stop her from rambling on.

"Why didn't you tell me?" She asked, "You should have, I could have helped."

His eyes snapped up to hers, a flash of anger on his face. "You wasn't exactly forthcoming with your own secrets. You wouldn't have told me, would you? It was only because of Moody that I know now."

She spluttered, feeling her own anger rising. "I didn't want you all knowing for your own safety! Being friends with the Slayer doesn't exactly come with life insurance."

"And that's the exact same reason I didn't tell you about me." He replied, his voice softer now. "It was safer for you to remain clueless. And now that you know you could put us both in danger."

She sighed, feeling a bit guilty for snapping at him when he'd only been trying to protect her, to protect them all really. And she could definitely relate to that. "You mean because Voldemort can read people's minds? If he ever catches me again he could read me and find out about this entire conversation..." At his nod she let out a low whistle, "That doesn't sound good."

"No, hence it was easier when you didn't know."

A smile came to her so suddenly that he backed up, almost as if he was dreading what she was about to say. "Teach me occlumency then. You're going to be teaching it to Harry, right? Why not teach me too?"

He considered it for a moment, then nodded. "I suppose that is the only way for us to be safe. And while we're at it, I'll teach you how to apparate too. You're an inconvenience to the Order if you can't get away quickly, they probably wouldn't wait around to help you out if they were in trouble."

As much as she wanted to argue with that she kept her mouth shut. She did really want to learn it after all.

"We have to decide what we are telling the others. They can't know about any of this, Buffy. I'm not teaching the whole Order how to mask their thoughts."

She giggled at the mental image that sprung into her mind. She could just see Severus smacking his head on his desk as she and Tonks messed around, and Sirius glared and Remus studied... "I'm not going to lie to them."

"I'm not saying you have to. Just don't mention me being involved."

She nodded, knowing that it would be hard to bend the truth to her family. They were bad enough on a normal day, but when she'd been missing... Yup they were definitely going to freak out on her. She thought of her family, she thought of Harry. And that led her to think about Draco.

"Sev..?"

"Hm..."

"What was Draco doing there?" She asked, although she was pretty sure she already knew the answer, and she didn't like it one bit.

Severus looked just as unhappy about it as she felt. "It's his home that they've taken over, of course he would be there."

"But he's just a kid!" She argued back, even though she knew Severus couldn't do anything to help the situation.

"He's also the son of death eaters, loyal ones at that. He will be expected to go down the same path."

Buffy shook her head, "When I looked at him back there, I didn't see a death eater, Severus. I saw a scared kid who wanted out."

"It's not as simple as that. They won't let him get away now, not alive anyway."

"What do you mean?"

"Voldemort means to give Draco a task. I don't know what it is, and he has yet to even mention this to Draco or his parents, but if Draco succeeds then he will automatically join the death eaters."

Buffy's breath hitched in her throat, "And if he fails..?"

"Then he dies."

_'I won't let that happen.'_ Buffy thought with determination. _'Whatever the cost, I can't let that happen.'_

* * *

When Buffy finally returned back home to Grimmauld place she was sprung upon by a very scared and concerned looking Tonks, who latched onto her body and wouldn't let go until Buffy told her she couldn't breath anymore.

As soon as Tonks had stepped away, Remus was there taking her place, and Sirius was standing back looking just as worried. When her brother let her go Buffy braced herself for the barrage of questions that she knew were coming.

"What happened?"

"We've been up all night worried about you! Where have you been?"

"Were you trying to give us all heart attacks?!"

"Are you okay? You're not hurt are you?"

She held up her hands in surrender until the questions stopped, and then she ignored the three of them and walked into the kitchen. The kettle had only just boiled so she made herself busy and poured herself a cup of coffee. Only when she had taken her first sip of her drink did she speak.

"Ah, I so needed that."

"So are you going to tell us what happened?" Tonks asked impatiently.

Buffy nodded, sipping her drink again before she placed it down on the table in front of her. "Voldemort is what happened."

She ignored their shocked looks and continued on. "He sent some of his death eater buddies after me, oh and they know who I am now which sucks by the way. And then he decided to kidnap me and try and make me join him. I mean like that would ever happen."

She stared at the faces of her friends and brother, all of whom had their mouths hung open.

"Do you realise how serious this is?" Remus asked, "If he knows you're the Slayer then he could tell the Ministry about you. Especially if you annoyed him by refusing to join him."

Buffy shook her head, "No, I don't think he will. He needs me for something. He didn't say what, but he made sure I wasn't harmed while I was in his 'care' and that has to mean something. If he told the Ministry they'd try and kill me, and if they succeeded then Voldemort would be left without whatever it is he needs from me."

"That makes sense, but I still don't like it." Sirius said with a sigh.

"Me neither." Remus agreed, crossing his arms over his chest. "How did you get away from them?"

Buffy opened her mouth but stopped herself from automatically telling them the truth. "When they came in to feed me I got out. Stole one of their robes and just walked straight out of there. It was pretty easy." She shrugged, hoping that they would buy the lie.

"What about the death eaters? How many of them were there?" Tonks asked.

"Uh quite a few. At least twenty, maybe more. And there were probably others that I didn't see too. Our old friend Barty was there, and the Malfoys, and Bellatrix of course."

"Bellatrix?" Sirius' head snapped to attention at the name of his cousin.

"Yeah, and it looks like she's Voldemort's right hand gal."

Tonks looked just as pale as Sirius. Bellatrix was her aunt after all, not that she had ever considered her as family. "We need to be extra careful from now on. All of us."

"You said you walked right out of this place?" Remus asked suddenly, "Do you know where it was?"

"Malfoy Manor." She replied easily, "But I wouldn't recommend going there or trying to ambush the place. After my grand escape I think they'll tighten up their security. It wouldn't be worth trying to attack them there on their own ground."

"You're right, that's where they'd be at their strongest." Tonks agreed. "But at least we know where they are working from now. I'll get this information back to Moody, he'd want to know about this."

She left before any of them could say another word, and Buffy got the impression that she was more freaked out about Bellatrix than she was interested in handing over information to her boss.

Obviously she wasn't the only one thinking along those lines, as Sirius stood from his seat and followed after her. "I'd best go make sure she's okay."

When Buffy turned her attention back to her brother she saw the conflicted emotions running across his face. He looked as if half of him wanted to go after Tonks too, and the other half wanted to stay and make sure that Buffy was okay.

She couldn't help the question from coming out of her mouth. "Remus, all joking aside, what's up with you and Tonks? Really?"

He looked up at her sharply, looking a bit guilty. "I... I honestly don't know."

"But you like her right?" Buffy prodded, taking another sip of her coffee and watching as her brother took Sirius' empty chair.

"Yes, I do... But she's young and beautiful and I'm-"

"Don't you dare say what I think you're about to say." She butted in, giving him a stern look. "It doesn't matter who you are, or more importantly what you are. It doesn't matter to Tonks, she doesn't care about any of that."

"Yes, but she's young. Too young for me. She just doesn't see how much of a danger I am to her."

Buffy sighed as she pulled out a chair and sat next to him, taking his hand and squeezing it tightly, forcing him to look her in the eye. "Yes she's young. But she's an adult, she's old enough to make her own decisions. And you're not dangerous, not when you take your potions, which you always do. Look, either you return her feelings or you don't. If you don't then tell her now, before she gets her hopes up. If you do... Well then do something about it before she gives up waiting."

He nodded, and Buffy could practically see the arguments running around in his head. He sure was stubborn... And it ran in the family apparently.

She let go of his hand then and stood from the table. "She really likes you, Remmy. Don't mess her around." With that she left the room, giving him time to think over everything she had said, and hoping that he would make the right decision.


	33. Triangle

**THE RETURN**

**Disclaimer:** All Btvs and HP characters belong to their respective owners and as always I'm not making any profit from this fic.

* * *

Chapter 33: Triangle

"You have agreed to go down this road, Buffy?"

She nodded as she stared up at the headmaster who was sitting behind his desk. She was sat in a chair just in front of him, while Severus stood behind her leaning against the far wall.

"We decided it was the best way."

Dumbledore nodded in agreement, "Yes. It is unfortunate that you now know our secret, but you are right. You will need to learn to mask your thoughts and your memories from Voldemort and occlumency is the best way. As it is we had already discussed teaching the same method to Harry so it shouldn't be a problem."

Buffy heard Severus shift positions until he was suddenly standing next to her chair. "We can start straight away, and continue whenever we both have free time during the school week."

Dumbledore sat forward in his chair, leaning on his elbows. "Good, the sooner the better. As for Harry, I would like for you to begin immediately. Voldemort cannot know about this connection."

Although Severus looked unhappy at the prospect of teaching Harry, Buffy knew that he was secretly glad they would be getting started early. After all, they would all be a lot safer if Harry could block out Voldemort's mind.

"Right. So, should we go get started?" She asked, directing her question to Severus.

He nodded, turning to walk over to the fireplace. Buffy stood and followed him, using the floo powder to take them away from Hogwarts. There was a flash of green as the flames licked around her body, and then just as suddenly they vanished.

She let her eyes adjust to the change in lighting as she found herself back home at Grimmauld Place. They had arrived in the living room which was dark, the curtains still drawn leaving a shadow to filter over the room. The room was empty save for Severus and herself.

Severus turned to her and held out his arm, helping her out from the fireplace until her boots touched the worn carpet. She sent him a smile in thanks before stepping through the house and into the kitchen where she knew the others would be, she could hear them talking quietly.

She entered the kitchen with a smile, and Sirius returned it, at least until he spotted who was following behind her.

"What's he doing here?" Sirius growled out, already glaring at the man. Buffy was more than used to his feelings towards Severus so she pointedly ignored him, taking a seat and propping her feet up on the seat next to her, crossing her legs at the ankles.

Molly was standing off to one side, obviously cooking up some delicious treats for everyone and looking a bit uncomfortable. "Professor Snape is part of the order, Sirius."

"Yes but this is still my house." He sulked back.

Buffy rolled her eyes, "Does it really matter right now? Dumbledore asked Sev to come here. Molly, do you think you could go grab Harry for us?"

The older witch nodded, putting down her cooking utensils before rushing away. The room was so silent that they could hear her footsteps as she walked up the stairs.

"What's this all about? Why do you need Harry?" Sirius asked after a moment, looking between Buffy and Severus with an annoyed expression on his face.

"Harry needs to learn how to block off his mind. And who better is there to teach him?" Buffy answered flatly, gesturing to her friend. Severus was still standing just by the door, waiting as if he was eager to make a quick escape.

"Why him?" Sirius asked, his voice sounding completely empty. "Anyone could teach Harry that."

Although she wanted to complain that he was wrong, she kept her mouth closed and let her eyes turn up to Severus who was smirking, his snarky comment just dying to get out. "Oh, I wasn't aware that you were an accomplished Occlumens..?"

Sirius stuttered before answering, "Well no, I'm not. But even without the knowledge I'd probably do a better job than you."

"I'm sorry, who here is the actual teacher?"

"And who here is the-"

"Real mature, guys." Buffy interrupted, leaning her head back in her seat until she could glare at the both of them. "Keep this up and we won't need to teach Harry anything 'cause Voldemort would have figured it all out by himself. I swear you're like little old ladies..."

Silence filled the room once again as Sirius huffed and stared at the ceiling and Severus crossed his arms, looking down at the floor. The pair of them looking like petulant children.

The silence didn't last very long. Seconds later Harry burst into the room, his steps faltering as the tension in the room hit him. His eyes travelled from Sirius to Severus and Buffy, looking even more confused with each of their expressions he took in.

"Er, what's going on?"

Severus stood up straight, pushing his body away from the wall where he had been leaning. "Sit down, Potter." He told him sternly, missing how Sirius' glare turned to him.

"You know I think I'd prefer it if you didn't give orders around here, Snape."

"Perhaps you should leave then."

"I'm Harry's godfather, why should I leave?"

Harry took a seat next to Sirius as the two argued on, sending Buffy an apologetic look. In return she rolled her eyes, mentally counting to twenty.

"I am here on Dumbledore's orders, but by all means stay, Black, I know you like to feel... Involved."

"What's that supposed to mean?" Sirius cried out, jumping up from his seat and knocking his chair backwards. And Buffy was sure she saw his hand grab for the wand in his pocket.

Buffy stood from her own seat, drawing all their attentions to her. "I swear if you two don't stop this right now I'll do it for you, by force and it won't be pretty. Now if you can stop your pissing contest for just a second, maybe we can actually get to the reason why we're here."

She glared at the pair of them until she was sure they would remain quiet and then finally turned to Harry, her once good mood completely gone. "Okay, long story short. We've all agreed that you need to learn occlumency, Harry. It will be vital to blocking out Voldemort from your connection. It's a pretty rare skill but luckily for you Severus knows enough to get you through it."

She purposefully ignored how Harry seemed to look disappointed. She didn't really care if he didn't want to work with Severus, it was for his own good. "No arguments. You need to learn this as well as you can, Harry, it's important."

Although he still seemed a bit grumpy about it, Harry nodded, taking her words seriously as she knew he would.

"We're getting started right away." Severus said, turning and sweeping out of the room with his black cloak swaying after him. Harry grumbled but after a meaningful look from Buffy he stood and followed the potions professor out the room. As soon as they were gone from her sight, Buffy turned on Sirius.

"What the hell is your problem?"

His mouth hung open in surprise. "My problem?"

"He's just trying to help Harry, you don't have to make it so hard all the time."

"What? He was doing just as much of the insulting, why isn't he getting harassed too?"

"Because you started it." She told him, her arms crossed over her chest. "And I'm fed up of this happening every time you two are in the same room together. I get that you hate each other's guts and all, but we have more important things to worry about than old feuds that you should have grown out of by now."

Sirius opened his mouth to answer but the door opened and he was interrupted by Remus and Tonks entering, staring at the pair with wide eyes. "We thought we heard arguing..."

"Hm, don't worry." Buffy said as she turned, "I'll be upstairs." She left before anyone could say anything else to stop her.

* * *

When Harry had finished his first lesson with Severus Buffy switched places with him, waiting until Harry had gone back to his room before starting anything. She didn't want the others to know that she was also learning the skill or they would want to know why, and that was one question she wouldn't be able to answer for them.

"How did it go?" She asked as she noticed Severus looking tired and worn out.

"Why did I ever volunteer for this job?" He groaned.

"That bad, huh?"

"Don't even get me started on Potter. He's an arrogant little-"

"Okay, let's not go there, please." Buffy said as she interrupted him, waving her arms around to emphasise her words. "I've already had a shouting match with one friend today I don't wanna do that all over again and I don't think my temper can really handle you insulting Harry right now."

His eyebrows rose ever so slightly but he nodded, watching as she hopped up onto a table and swung her legs backwards and forwards. "Fair enough. Shall we start then?"

"Sure. So, what do I gotta do?"

Severus let out a long sigh, obviously she was going to be just as difficult to teach as Harry.

* * *

Sirius jumped to his feet as soon as he heard footsteps coming down the stairs. He'd been waiting in the kitchen for a while now, ever since Harry had come down from his lesson. From that moment on he'd known that Buffy was up there with _him_, although he didn't know why.

He did know deep down that he was jealous of their relationship, of whatever it was that they had between them. In a way he always had been, even back at school, but back then he'd just felt annoyed at her for caring about a Slytherin. Now though he was just worried.

He didn't trust Severus, not at all, and he just couldn't understand how Buffy could. How she could stand up for him time and time again even after everything that had happened, after everything that they knew about that man.

He couldn't help but feel as though he was going to lead her into more trouble, the kind of trouble that she would never recover from.

The footsteps had reached the bottom floor now so Sirius stepped to the door, keeping his own footsteps light. He only pulled the door open an inch, but it was more than enough for him to see straight down the hallway to where Buffy and Severus were standing together.

They were standing beside each other, Buffy looking up at him while they spoke soft words that Sirius couldn't hear. They stayed like that for a few moments, until Buffy shuffled forwards and pulled Severus into a tight hug.

Severus seemed just as surprised as Sirius was, his body stiffening before finally he relaxed, his arms winding around her to return the hug. Buffy pulled away with a smile and Severus stepped outside into the now darkening streets.

Sirius turned and closed the kitchen door before Buffy could realise he had been watching them, his body falling flat against the wood with a deep sigh.

Buffy obviously cared a great deal about Severus and there was nothing Sirius could do to change that. Even if he told her how he felt, it probably wouldn't change a thing between them.

No, it was time for him to stand back and just be happy with the choices that other people made. After all, he wanted Buffy to be happy, even if that meant burying his own feelings.

_'Enough is enough,'_ he told himself sadly, _'perhaps, finally, it's time to move on.'_


	34. A Cry For Help

**THE RETURN**

**Disclaimer:** All Btvs and HP characters belong to their respective owners and as always I'm not making any profit from this fic.

* * *

Chapter 34: A Cry For Help

"Let's try again. Ready?"

Buffy nodded as she stood and mentally braced herself. She closed her eyes and took a deep breath, focusing on what she needed to do.

She heard Severus call out the spell, the one that was going to try and force its way inside her mind, to try and reveal her deepest and darkest memories to him. The spell hit her with a force powerful enough to send her staggering backwards although she quickly regained her footing, which at least was an improvement from her last attempt.

She could feel something pulling at her mind, hear voices from the past ringing in her ears. Memories flooded through her vision as if she were seeing a movie of her life...

She saw Dawn standing atop a tower, lightning flashing around her as a great dragon soared past them in the sky...

She saw herself, Willow and Xander hugging, clinging to each other as if their lives depended on it...

She saw Angelus holding Willow by the throat, threatening to kill her to pass a message on to Buffy...

She saw herself as a young girl, laughing and cheering with Remus, James, Sirius and Peter...

"No." She growled out the one word, her brow creasing as she concentrated on pushing the invading force out of her head.

She could hear laughter now, a manic laughter that she associated with crimson red eyes.

"No! I won't let you do this!"

She pushed with all her power, mentally blocking the images from leaving her mind. And all too quickly the pressure in her head left and Buffy stumbled again. Her hand found the back of a chair and she used it to get her balance back, her breath coming out in long pants. Her eyes drifted across the room to Severus, who was no longer standing where he had been a moment ago. He was lying on the floor, groaning as he pushed odd chairs away from him.

"What happened?" She asked breathlessly. "Wow, that took a lot outta me..."

"You successfully repelled the spell, although you'll need to work on the amount of force you use." He sent her a glare but she shrugged it off easily. "It'll do you no good if you send Voldemort flying when he tries that."

"Right, but at least I can do it!" She replied with a bright smile, already feeling a lot better.

"When you know it's coming, at least. The next stage is for you to try it unprepared." He told her as he began clearing away the broken chairs that he had fallen into.

"Great, so you're gonna be stalking me all day so that you can ambush me when I least expect it?"

"Something like that." He said with a small smile, and he looked as if he was going to enjoy the opportunity to catch her off guard.

"Great!" She said again, this time with a sarcastic tone.

He was about to answer, no doubt with one of his trademark snarky comments, but she held up her hand to stop him, the faint noise of a door opening in the distance catching her attention. Seconds later there was a soft knock on the door of the potions office.

"Enter." Severus called out, sounding a bit grouchy all of a sudden.

Harry stepped inside the office with a sigh. He really didn't want to be there and he didn't see the point of learning occlumency. As far as he was concerned, it was a good thing that he had this connection with Voldemort. After all he'd managed to help Arthur through it and that had saved his life.

He stopped in his place when instead of seeing the potions professor that he had grown to loathe, he saw his DADA teacher. A quick glance to the right and he spotted Snape, who was righting some chairs and replacing some broken bits of furniture.

"What?" Buffy asked, seeing the freaked out look on his face.

"What are you doing down here?" He asked, gesturing to the room around them.

"What, I'm not allowed to socialise now? I might be a teacher but that doesn't mean I can't have friends, you know." She told him with a straight face.

"But it's S-" He rose his arm to point at the other teacher in the room but stopped himself when he saw both the adults' expressions shift. Snape was almost glaring at him and Buffy just looked disappointed in him.

"Uh, I- sorry." He stuttered, stepping further into the room where he dropped his bag on the floor, just by the doorway. Then he turned back to the two adults, looking from one of them to the other.

"So can we get started already?"

Buffy rolled her eyes and looked towards Severus, who was also staring at her with a strange expression on his face. She looked at the both of them again before she remembered. "Oh, right you're here for your lessons... I'll just go and leave you to it then..."

She almost laughed at the looks they were sending each other. They both looked more than annoyed at having to be there in the same room, although Buffy suspected half of the glare she was receiving was because Severus didn't want to be left alone with Harry.

She made sure to give him a cheerful wave and a grin before she left the room.

She made her way up from the dungeon and towards the great hall. It was still lunch time but most of the students had finished eating and had ventured outside or back to the common rooms. Or if they were like Hermione then they would be waiting outside the classroom for their next lesson.

Buffy grabbed herself a sandwich and small piece of chocolate cake and sat at the teachers table, happily sitting by herself and watching the students below.

As her gaze drifted across the room she spotted the unmistakable blonde hair of Draco Malfoy as he sat with his friends at the Slytherin table. The very sight of him made her shoulders slump.

He was chatting away with the other Slytherin students, grinning and laughing as much as any of the other kids, the normal kids, and Buffy couldn't help but wonder if he really knew how much trouble he was in.

Whether by coincidence, or maybe he sensed that someone was watching him, he turned to stare up at the teachers table, their eyes meeting from across the room. And Buffy was sure she saw a flicker of emotion, perhaps fear run across his features.  
She resisted the urge to go over to him. She wanted to speak to him of course but she couldn't very well talk to him about death eaters in front of everyone in the room.

Luckily it seemed as if she wouldn't have to. Draco's gaze returned back to his friends before he stood, ignoring the others around him who asked where he was going. He quickly made his way over to her, stopping just in front of the teachers table.

"Professor Summers. Can I talk to you please, somewhere in private?" His voice seemed strained, as if he was trying to act tough, to hide what he was really thinking and feeling.

Usually she would have complained about him calling her professor, but she couldn't even open her mouth in fear of blurting out something that she might regret later. She nodded, swallowing a chunk of cake in the process. "I was just about to head back to my classroom..."

He nodded back, "I'll be there in a moment."

She watched him walk back to his friends before he was lost in the crowd once again. Buffy sighed as she finished her food and stepped away from the table, heading straight for her classroom.

She had barely stepped inside and reached her desk when the door opened and Draco stepped in, his usual calm confidence replaced with fear and nervousness.

"Take a seat." She told him, gesturing to the tables.

He sat down, looking up at her. "What I'm about to tell you can't be repeated, no one must know about it. Are you sure this room is secured?"

Her eyebrows rose ever so slightly in surprise, and then with a sigh she pulled out her wand and pointed it towards the door. "_Muffilato_. Better?"

He looked at her appraisingly, as if he had never thought she would actually take his words into consideration, before he nodded. "Look, what you saw back there at the manor... It... I-"

Seeing that he was struggling with his words she jumped in. "I know all about it, Draco. Your parents are death eaters, Voldemort has taken over your house and they've enlisted you to help them. What I really want to know though, is if you actually want to be there."

He remained quiet for a long moment, staring at the floor. "What difference does it make? Whether I want to be there or not I'll still be expected to be there. I can't just walk away now."  
"But would you? If you could walk away, I mean." She asked, keeping a careful watch on him.

He met her eyes, looking conflicted. She could easily tell that he didn't know what to tell her.

"I suppose I would. But there's no point in even thinking about it, I won't ever get the chance." He finally told her, determination settling into his expression. "Look, professor, I didn't come here to get your sympathy, I came here to ask you to keep this information to yourself. You know what I am now, what my family is, and although the other kids might suspect it, I don't want them to know for sure. I don't want my parents carted off to Azkaban because you told everyone they were death eaters."

"Draco, I'm no-"

"No, I don't care what you want to say!" He interrupted, standing from his seat. "You can't tell anyone... Besides, I know who you are now too. And I can just as easily tell people who our DADA teacher really is."

Buffy froze, her eyes narrowing on him. Was he really threatening her? Had they told him to do this or was he just trying to protect them? His expression wasn't giving any of it away.

She let her gaze turn dark and fiery, and watched in satisfaction as Draco unconsciously backed up, stumbling when the back of his legs smacked into his chair.

"Listen to me, Draco. You really do not want to threaten me right now. And if you know who I am then you know just what I can do, what I could do to you if you even tried to tell anybody about me. I understand that you want to protect your family, but threatening the one person who can help you is not going to get you anywhere."

"Help? How could you help me?" His voice sounded arrogant and mistrustful, but there was hope in his eyes, it was small, but it was there.

"Right now I can't do a lot, I know. But if you get in trouble, if they ask you to do something that you don't want to do, then you come and tell me. If the worst comes and I have to drag you out of there forcefully, then I will."

He stared up at her in surprise and maybe a little bit of awe, "You would really do that? You would risk your own life to get me away from them?"

"Why wouldn't I?" She asked, crossing her arms over her chest. "You're a student, a kid, you shouldn't be involved in wars like this one. And I hate Voldemort all the more because you are."

Draco stared at her, seeing the hate written in her expression. "I'm glad you're okay. That you got away from him."

Buffy looked up in surprise and had to stop herself from automatically saying that she had had help. She didn't know how much Draco knew about his potions professor after all, and she didn't want to put him in danger by telling him. "Yes, well he's way mistaken if he actually believes I would join him. Not in a million years."

Draco nodded back to her with a small smile, "And I bet it's killing him knowing that."


	35. Change is Not Always Good

**THE RETURN**

**Disclaimer:** All Btvs and HP characters belong to their respective owners and as always I'm not making any profit from this fic.

* * *

Chapter 35: Change Is Not Always Good

Buffy smiled to herself as she finished marking the last of the essays that she had been given from her second year students. Finally she was up to date on all her homework and just had to hand it back out to the kids, and that was the easiest part of her job.

Between teaching full time, the secret DA meetings, the odd lessons with Severus and a few catch up sessions with the guys back at Grimmauld Place she had hardly noticed that two and a half months had gone by so quickly.

Teaching was harder than ever now that she was stuck with boring theory work. It drained her of her energy and so often she was forced to shout and yell at the kids for playing around. Instead of using their excitement to enthuse about the subject they were using it the only other way they could, by messing around. And as much as she hated it, she knew they had their reasons. They had not always been like that.

Fortunately the DA had become a kind of escape from it all. All the DA members were willing to work hard and learn and they had all taken as much knowledge from her as they could hold. They had been like literal sponges, soaking up everything that she put down for them.

Nearly all of the members had advanced in their magical abilities, even Neville who had so often been at the bottom of class was now using spells way above his age level.

Even Harry had learnt a thing or two from the meetings, but his main achievement was becoming the teacher, or 'mini-teach' as she liked to call him. Buffy had definitely seen an improvement in his leadership abilities and his confidence had sky-rocketed. She only wished he'd put in as much effort with learning occlumency as he did with the DA.

Unfortunately he'd given up the skill after just a few lessons. He wouldn't tell her why, just that it hadn't worked out but that he would continue practising it on his own. Truthfully Buffy didn't believe a word of it but she didn't want to bug him about it anymore, she'd already had a talk with him about it a few times. She could only hope that he would be smart enough to actually keep practising like he promised.

As for her own occlumency lessons, they had stopped too. Not because she had given up though, but because Severus felt that she had reached a point where he could no longer teach her anything new. She had successfully blocked out his attempts many times now, even doing so when unprepared. All she could do now was to keep practising and hope that when or if the time ever came, she would easily be able to stop anyone from invading her mind.

Apparating lessons had been a lot harder for her to grasp. For starters there was the slight problem of where to practice. Hogwarts would have been the most suitable place considering how both she and Severus lived there for most of the time, but they couldn't very well ask Dumbledore to take down his wards and threaten the safety of everyone inside just so that they could practice.

In the end they had compromised. Whenever Buffy went back home to see her family she would let Severus tag along, and the pair would hole themselves up in the attic while he taught her the skill. It took a long time but she had eventually got the hang of it, easily apparating from one room and appearing in another. Still she had yet to travel anywhere of great distance, but it was still a work in progress. She was happy with where she had come in such a short amount of time.

Buffy checked her watch, the smile falling from her face as she realised that she would be late for another DA meeting. Of course she knew that Harry would be there to start it off for her but she still hated missing out on anything.

Gathering up her things she eagerly threw them into the desk drawers and rushed out from her classroom, heading straight for the room of requirement.

As she rounded the corner that would lead her to the unofficial classroom she was stopped by a series of voices. She could hear people arguing, someone sounded as if they were crying and someone else was laughing harshly... It was a familiar squeak of a laugh.

She turned the corner, coming to an abrupt stop at the sight before her.

Delores Umbridge was standing in front of the room of requirement where a huge chunk of wall was missing. It literally looked as if someone had used a wreaking ball to knock down half the wall.

Delores was grinning as she crossed her arms over her chest, watching as the caretaker, Filch was ordering the students out, making them walk in a single line as if they were prisoners.

Harry was standing in front of the high inquisitor looking angry but she obviously wasn't paying any attention to what he was telling her.

Buffy cleared her throat as she approached, a sinking feeling starting in the pit of her stomach.

"What's going on?" She asked as she stepped up to the woman who was once again dressed in all pink.

Delores turned to her with a grin, "I always knew these students were up to something. I've had my inquisitorial squad following them around and look what I've found." She said gesturing inside the room where various training weapons were now scattered on the floor.

"But-"

Harry's small voice was instantly overpowered by the woman. "Educational decree number one hundred and twenty-eight declares that all student organisations must be authorised by myself. I do not remember authorising this." She said, her head held up high.

"Mr. Filch?" She waited until he had turned to face her and she had the attention of all the students who were groaning. "I want you to take the students back to my office. All of you will be in detention with myself later today."

Buffy felt at a loss of what to do. Should she stand up and say that she was a part of the group or let them believe it was all the students' ideas? On one hand she didn't want to see any of the students suffering at Delores' hands and if her speaking up could stop that... But on the other, if Delores knew she had been the master behind the entire plan there was no doubt she would be kicked out of Hogwarts, and as she had been reminded so many times before, she was needed there.

Harry seemed to notice her silent conflict and slowly shook his head, narrowing his eyes when she didn't make any form of immediate reply. Eventually, and with a sigh, she nodded once, seeing Harry let out a breath of relief.

"Can you believe this?" Delores was saying now, although Buffy had hardly been paying attention to her words. "Things really do need to improve here at Hogwarts. This kind of behaviour will not be tolerated."

"You can't stop us from meeting up. The DA will always find a way." Harry told her in determination, glaring at the woman fiercely.

"DA?" She replied, sending Buffy a look of confusion as if to ask if her fellow staff member had any idea what the boy was talking about.

It took a lot of effort but she managed to shrug back in reply.

"No matter," Delores answered with a small, happy squeaking noise. "We'll find the culprit one way or another. Filch, take him up to my office."

As the students were led away Buffy turned to Delores. "What are you going to do?"

"Ask them some questions." She replied with a smile, "And if they know what's good for them, they will answer correctly."

Buffy's eyes widened as she watched the woman march away, no doubt to torture the information out of the students. She wasn't about to stand back and let this happen.

Buffy followed behind them at her own pace, leaving just enough of a space between them so that she could follow without being noticed. As soon as Delores had disappeared behind her office door, dragging Harry, Ron, Hermione, Ginny, Nevile and Luna with her, Buffy crept up to the door and put her ear to the wood.

A loud thud sounded from inside, followed by Delores' voice. "Tell me! I want to know who organised this group!"

For a moment there was silence, until Buffy heard a sharp intake of breath.

"You can't do that!" Squealed a feminine voice that she recognised to be Hermione, and she sounded scared, something that made Buffy fight the sudden urge to barge right in through the door and stop whatever it was the witch was doing to them.

"Tell me what I want to know then!" Delores demanded again, her voice sounding threatening.

There was no answer for a few moments until there was a girlish squeal once again. "Tell her Harry! Or I will..." And all too suddenly Hermione was blurting out exactly what Delores had wanted to know.

"There was no organiser. We all agreed to start Dumbledore's Army together-"

"Dumbeldore's Army? Then he is the one responsible!"

Harry finally spoke up then, but his words were ignored. "No, it was us. Dumbledore had no idea about it!"

"Nonsense. It is _his_ army after all."

Buffy mentally cursed, quickly backing away from the door she was leaning against. Delores had just found the 'proof' that she had been searching for and she wasn't going to back down now. She would go and call for the Minister, afraid that Dumbledore really was organising an army under the schools roof.

Feeling angry and more than a little guilty, Buffy raced up to the headmaster's office intending to tell him everything. And hoping that he would be able to settle things before it got any worse.

She gave the password at the statue and bounded up the steps two at a time, stepping into the office without even knocking. The old headmaster was sitting behind his desk, looking amused as if he had been expecting her to barge in at any moment.

"I've had enough, that woman is driving me crazy." She told him as she pointed to the door behind her.

"I assume you're talking about Ms. Umbridge." He replied, writing on some parchment that was in front of him, not even bothering to look up at her.

"Yes! She's just marched half the students up to her office to torture them for information on the DA. You have to stop her."

"The DA?" He asked, finally his eyes turning up to meet hers.

"Yes. Look I should have told you about it before but I thought it best if no one else knew. We couldn't just stand back and do nothing, the kids had to learn something." She began explaining, feeling a lot like a teenager who was about to be grounded...

"So you taught them some spells? As an extra-curriculum activity?" At her nod he shrugged, "There's nothing wrong with that, but I do wish you had told me about this."

"Yeah, well I wasn't really thinking much of it at the time. I just wanted to teach them something other than defensive theory, something that they could actually use in real life. We wasn't supposed to get caught."

"Ah yes, Delores and her decrees." He sighed, sitting back in his chair and folding his hands on the desk in front of him, looking completely relaxed and at ease. Buffy had to wonder if he hadn't already known about their meetings, if he had been preparing for this all along.

"Isn't there anything you can do?"

"What's done is already done, Buffy." He replied cryptically, his eyes darting to the door just as it burst open once again.

Delores stormed inside the room, a bunch of official-looking men behind her wearing suits or dark robes. One of them, Buffy noticed, was Kingsley Shacklebolt, and suddenly she felt a whole lot better about the whole situation.

"You may have fooled the world, Dumbledore, but you cannot fool the Ministry. You're students have kindly told us of your so called 'army'..." Delores spat as she stepped in, ignoring Buffy completely and focusing all her attention on the headmaster.

"...Proof of what I've been telling you all right from the beginning. All your fear mongering about You Know Who, we saw your lies for what they were, a smokescreen for your bid to seize control of the Ministry!"

Dumbledore stood from his seat, looking calm and collected. "Naturally."

Delores turned to her ministry friends, "You two, escort Dumbledore to Azkaban to await trial for conspiracy and sedition."

Buffy's mouth hung open in silent shock. They would really sent him to prison? Dumbledore didn't seem too happy with the arrangements either, as he stood and walked away from the group.

"I thought we might hit this little snag. You seem to be labouring under the delusion that I will... What's the phrase? Come quietly?" His little speech made Buffy's mouth snap back into place, and from the corner of her eyes she spotted Kingsley wink at her.

"Well I can tell you this, I have no intention of going to Azkaban."

Delores huffed, "Enough of this. Get him!"

But as soon as the ministry workers stepped forward Dumbeldore's pet phoenix soared above his head and the pair of them had vanished in a flash of bright light.

Delores was fuming as she rushed forward, searching the area where he had vanished from as if she was going to find a trapdoor or hidden passageway. And while Kingsley made some smart comment, Buffy found herself frowning.

Now that Dumbledore had gone who would be left to take over the school?

She felt her spirits drop even lower when her eyes found the pink, fluffy form of Delores once again.

Of course... The Ministry would take over. And of course, Fudge would choose his favourite High Inquisitor for the job.

And just like that Hogwarts had a new headmistress, and Buffy couldn't help but feel like it had all been her fault.


	36. To The Rescue

**THE RETURN**

**Disclaimer:** All Btvs and HP characters belong to their respective owners and as always I'm not making any profit from this fic.

* * *

Chapter 36: To The Rescue

Harry let a sigh leave his lips as his eyes wandered around the room. The other students around him were eagerly scribbling away on their test papers, every single one of them. Hermione seemed to be on her fourth page already and even Ron looked as if he was in deep thought, trying his best to answer the questions in front of him.

Harry though just couldn't get his brain to work. He knew he needed to pass his OWLs, but his mind just could not focus on the words staring back a him. It didn't help when the clock at the front of the room was ticking ever so loudly as every second passed. It was almost as if it was taunting him. He'd been sitting there helplessly for over twenty minutes now...

His eyes were drawn over to the new headmistress, Delores Umbridge, who was seated at the front of the room in all her pink glory. She sat alone on the stage, acting as if it was a throne and she the queen of the world. And Harry felt a surge of pure hate flow over him at the sight of her.

_"Where is it?"_

Harry squinted his eyes in surprise, spinning to look around him. But no one had spoken. Everyone was working silently at their tables, Delores sitting reading at the front. Then where had that voice come from?

A sudden flash of pain pounded in his head, hitting him so hard that he cried out, his hands flying up to smack over his scar where the burning was centred. People were turning to stare at him, some of them in confusion and some in concern, but he didn't care. The pain was so intense, like nothing he had ever felt before, at least not from his scar.

He managed to open his eyes, just barely, but instead of seeing the great hall and the other students as they worked on their exams, he saw a pitch black room.

A single chair where Sirius sat, bound and looking tired and bloodied. Behind him was a door, a door that Harry recognised from back at he Ministry.

_"Where is it?"_ Demanded that same hissing voice, a voice that Harry recognised for it brought shivers running down his spine. _"Where is the prophecy?"_

Sirius stubbornly shook his head, closing his eyes in pain as he was hit again and again by powerful spells. Harry could barely look at him, and yet he couldn't turn his gaze away, as if someone was forcing him to watch.

_"I need that prophecy, tell me!"_ Growled the voice again.

"Then you'll have to kill me." Sirius told them, bravely standing up to them despite the situation he was stuck in.

_"Oh, I will. But first, you will fetch it for me."_

When Sirius tried to struggle the voice laughed, and it was a demented laugh, one full of manic glee and terror.

_"Crucio!"_

Harry cried out, and all too suddenly his back was hitting the ground hard, having fallen off his chair in the exam hall. Everyone was staring at him now as he lifted his head, looking around in alarm.

* * *

Buffy was happily sitting in her room looking through old photographs, her fingers lovingly tracing the faces of the people she had loved and lost all those years ago when a huge commotion outside caught her attention.

She caught the slight sound of distressed, hushed voices and then someone was knocking on her door.

Dropping her photographs back to the table Buffy stood and made her way over to the door, rolling her eyes when the insistent knocking turned into all out pounding. Obviously someone was in a hurry.

She pulled open the door and looked at her visitors. Harry looked so pale she would have thought he was ill if not for the look of utter desperation on his face. Hermione and Ron were right behind him, the pair of them looking worried and slightly flushed as if they had been running.

Buffy silently pulled back the door so that the three of them could enter and did a quick mental check over the room to make sure it was all tidy. "What's wrong?" She asked, concern eating away at her as she noticed how Harry's hands were shaking. "Is it about your exam?"

The students sat down, although it looked to Buffy as though they fell down in exhaustion.

"I saw it, Buffy!" Harry said, grabbing her by the sleeve as she went to sit next to him on her couch. "I saw it all happen."

She opened her mouth to ask what he had seen but the sound of footsteps stopped her. Just as her gaze swept over to the open doorway she spotted the bright form of the headmistress as she barged into the room, looking just as flustered as the students. Severus walked in behind her, and even though he looked just as calm and emotionless as normal, there was an odd glint in his eyes that Buffy couldn't place.

"What is the meaning of this?" Delores asked, frowning at the students who were so obviously invading into Buffy's personal living space. "Students are not permitted to come up to the staff living quarters."

Buffy ignored her, not really caring what she thought, and turned back to the students. "Harry, what happened? What did you see?"

His eyes flickered over to Delores for a instant and Buffy suddenly understood. It was something important, but he didn't want her to know, he didn't want the ministry to know. He seemed to weigh up his options before he shook his head, obviously deciding that whatever it was, it was too important to wait. "He's got Padfoot."

An involuntary gasp left her, and she was sure she stopped breathing all together as his words sunk in, her eyes widened, silently asking if he was sure.

Harry nodded once, his own eyes nearly brimming with tears.

"What does that mean?" Delores asked, frowning at Buffy. "Professor Summers, what is he talking about?"

Buffy was frozen in place, her ears barely picking up Delores' questions as the blind panic ripped through her body.

_'No, this can't be happening. Not Sirius. How did they even get him? After my kidnapping we all agreed to be extra careful... Why hasn't anyone come to tell me? Why isn't Remus here asking for help to find him?'_ Her mind raced with so many questions that she didn't have answers for, and then her gaze switched back to Harry.

He was sitting, his body still shaking from the panic and the adrenaline, his eyes wide and scared. His vision had come from Voldemort, that much she knew for definite. Was it possible that it had been sent on purpose?

_'Is this a trap?'_

At that single thought her body seemed to come back to her control, the panic leaving her and being replaced with a fierce determination. She needed answers before she decided on their course of action.

Ignoring how her movements startled Harry, she stood from her seat and walked towards the door, a blank look on her face.

Delores was now staring at Severus, having apparently quizzed him over what this 'Padfoot' was. But it didn't seem as if he had given her an answer either. She turned as Buffy approached them, realising that she was going to leave without telling her anything.

"No, I won't let you go anywhere until I know what is going on here!" She demanded, putting herself in the way between Buffy and the door.

Inwardly Buffy sighed, she needed answers and she didn't have time to waste. If Harry's vision turned out to be true then Sirius was in serious trouble, and she wasn't about to let another of her friends die, at least not without putting up one hell of a fight.

"Get out of my way." Buffy growled out, letting the full effect of the slayer take over her. Her eyes were like icy daggers, and even Severus had to look away from her cold stare.

Delores though was not quite as smart to notice the change in the Slayer. She firmly held her ground, crossing her arms over her chest and holding her head up high. "I am headmistress of this school and I demand to know wh-"

Buffy launched forwards, her hand curling into a tight fist before she punched the woman in the face, hard. Delores didn't stand much chance against her, and her body crumpled to the floor in a heap of pink fabric.

Hermione had squealed in shock and was covering her eyes with her hands while Ron grinned on in silent approval. Harry still looked concerned, but at least some of the colour had returned to his cheeks.

"She's not going to like that, you know." Severus commented as he stared down at the fallen witch, although Buffy noted he didn't seem that concerned about her predicament.

"I really don't give a damn what she thinks right now." Buffy replied, her voice hollow and empty as she followed with her original plan, stepping over Delores's limp body and heading for the door.

Once she was outside she headed through the corridor and down the many moving stairs, not caring if anyone followed her or not.

Harry and his friends hurried to catch up with her, and despite being about the same height and size as her, they had to jog to keep up with her pace.

"Where are you going?"

"Dumbledore's office." She said, in that same voice that was devoid of any emotion. It made goosebumps rise on Harry's arms to hear her like that and he couldn't help but stare after her in concern. He had never heard her sound so cold and dead before.

"He can't help us now, we have no idea where he is."

"Don't need his help." She told him as they finally found the staircase that lead up to the headmasters office. "Just need a fireplace."

When they entered inside they found that it still looked exactly the same as how Dumbledore had left it. Obviously Umbridge had yet to move in fully.

Buffy wasted no time and grabbed up a bowl of floo powder, stepping into the fire and turning to face the three students. "I'll go ahead to Headquarters. You wait here, okay? Wait for me to come back."

"We don't have time, Buffy. I saw them hurting him, if we wait he might be-" Harry began to say but Buffy's dark gaze snapped directly to him, silencing him instantly.

"We don't know if your vision was a trap or not, Harry. Just do as you're told and wait." She didn't bother arguing any more, just threw down the powder, yelling out her destination as she did.

Within seconds she was gone in a flash of green fire and Harry felt his body deflate. Sirius was in trouble and Buffy had gone to get help... But she would be too late, they had to act now if they wanted to rescue Sirius. He had seen it all after all, it had to be true.

When he turned to the door Hermione grabbed him by the arm.

"What are you doing? Buffy told us to wait."

He shook his head, not caring that he was shouting at his friend. "We don't have time, Hermione. Sirius is in real danger! By the time Buffy gets back with help he'll already be dead!"

"But what if she's right? What if this is a trap? Come on, Harry, think about this." Her eyes were pleading with him, but he quickly turned away.

"There's nothing to think about." He told her stubbornly, and she couldn't help but notice that his voice had taken on that same emotionless tone that Buffy had used a moment ago. "I saw it, Hermione. I saw what will happen. I'm not waiting around to let Sirius die."

Ron sighed as he pulled Hermione's arm off of Harry's shoulder, giving her a look that clearly said 'leave it.'

"You're either with me or your not." Harry told them, "But either way, I'm going to the Ministry to save Sirius."

* * *

She stepped out into the living room of Grimmauld place and looked around the room with frantic eyes. It was empty and dark, no sign of Sirius or anyone having been there anytime recently.

Her feet took her into the hall and through to the kitchen where her family were so often seated. But once again the room was empty and quiet. Now her heart was speeding up, the fear starting to break through again. What if it was true? What if Voldemort had found him?

She tried to stop those thoughts before they could lead anywhere, and continued searching through the rooms on the ground floor. Finding nothing, and only making herself feel worse in the process.

With every second that passed her terror grew, her imagination sending her faint images of her friend being hurt or worse, killed, and knowing that it had been her fault for not trusting Harry...

She felt as though her heart was bursting inside her chest, as if it was ripping apart from the inside. Where was he? Where was anyone?

She took in a deep breath and yelled out at the top of her lungs. "Sirius!"

Instantly a yelling called back to her, but it wasn't Sirius. She had grown used to hearing Mrs. Black's portrait yelling at her and normally she would shout back in annoyance or cover up the canvas... But right now she didn't care, she just wanted to find him.

She flung herself around the corners, sprinting up the stairs two steps at a time. "Sirius! Remus!"

She darted around the corner of the second floor, in such a hurry that she didn't see him surrounded by the dark shadows. She fell into him with enough force to send them both sprawling to the floor, her landing on top of him, a loud 'ooof' sound leaving her throat.

"Ugh, what are you screaming about?" He said with a grimace as he rubbed at his head.

She let her eyes take in his form. His dark hair and deep chocolate eyes, pale untouched skin. No bruises, no marks on his wrists from being bound, no injuries from torturous spells... He was there, really there, and he was okay... The panic had been over nothing.

And finally, with a deep relieved breath, her heart stopped its frantic beating and slowly returned back to normal, her mind screaming that everything was okay, that Sirius was fine.

"What's the matter?" He was staring up at her with concern etched on his face, obviously seeing how panicked she had been. She barely registered that his hand had reached up between them to move her hair out of her face, softly pushing it up and behind her ear.

And that was when she remembered that they were lying on the floor together. That she was practically sitting on him...

"Oh, oh sorry." She gingerly rose to her feet, holding out her hand to help him up while trying to hide her face behind a curtain of blonde hair. She really didn't want him to see her blushing, and she could feel her cheeks reddening even more at the thought.

As soon as he was standing she pounced on him again, although with less force this time. He seemed surprised as she hugged him tightly, pressing her face in his shoulder and not wanting to let go until she was absolutely sure that he was really there and not just a figment of her imagination.

"What's going on? Buffy?" His hands grabbed her shoulders and gently pushed her away from him so that he could look her in the eyes. Now he was starting to look worried.

"Harry had a vision." She said, finding her voice again. "He saw you being tortured by Voldemort. I had to make sure it was real before we done anything, I didn't want Harry walking into a trap."

He nodded in understanding. "Voldemort knows about the connection then."

"And he's using it to get Harry to go to him." She replied.

"Harry's safe? At Hogwarts?" He asked quickly.

"Yeah, I told him to stay and wait for me to get back. I just had to check..."

"That I was still here?" He laughed slightly, "Of course. Voldemort wouldn't be able to capture me, I'm not you."

She laughed even as she smacked him on the arm, "Hey, watch what you're saying, Mister."

They laughed together, just happy to be able to laugh, and Buffy realised with a start just how close they were standing together. When he looked down at her his expression changed from happy and carefree to suddenly serious and thoughtful.

"So you was really that worried about me, huh?"

She nodded, a frown playing on her face. "Of course I was, why wouldn't I be?" As her eyes met his again she noticed the deep emotion in them. And before she knew what was happening they were so close that their noses brushed together. Buffy closed her eyes the instant before they would meet, but the sound of someone clearing their throat behind her made her pause.

She jumped back, eyes snapping open as she turned, only to see Severus standing on the stairs, leaning against the wall and looking just a little unhappy.

"Perhaps if you're not too busy you might want to run off to the Ministry. That fool boy has gone charging to your rescue. Too bad you won't be there."


	37. Loosing Grip

**THE RETURN**

**Disclaimer:** All Btvs and HP characters belong to their respective owners and as always I'm not making any profit from this fic.

**A/N:** Thank you to everyone still reading and reviewing :). An extra long chapter for you all here, hope you enjoy.

* * *

Chapter 37: Loosing Grip

He had no idea where he was going, only that he needed to find the room where Sirius was being held.

He sped through the dark halls of the Ministry, his way lit by his trusted wand. The others were right behind him, their breath coming out in harsh pants.

"Are you sure this is the way?" Neville asked as they stopped for just a moment to get their breath back.

"Yes." Harry replied quickly, his eyes scanning around in the darkness. "I've seen that door before, when I came here for my trial. I know we're going in the right direction."

While the others stood panting, Harry stepped deeper into the room. He wasn't quite sure how they had managed to get there, but it was a huge cavernous room with a high ceiling and dark sandy floors. As he neared the edge of the wall he called out to the others. Standing in front of him was a series of doors.

"You found it, great." Ron said as he caught up to his friend, Hermione, Ginny and Luna pushing up next to him. "So, which one is it? They all look the same to me..."

Harry shrugged, "We'll have to try a few of them." He reached out for the nearest handle, watching as the others did the same at their own doors.

When it budged open he was looking into some kind of laboratory, with giant glass pillars filled with green goo lining the walls. There was a table with various flasks on, each one with a different coloured liquid inside. "Not this one." He said with a disappointed sigh, closing the door and turning to have a look at the others.

Ron and Ginny were standing at the entrance to another huge cavern-like room, one that looked suspiciously similar to the one they were already standing in. If they went that way they would surely get lost. "Nope."

Luna and Neville pulled open their door next, Luna letting out a shriek as she grabbed Neville by the back of his robes. Inside there was no room, only a drop that seemed to go on and on, miles and miles down under the earth. There was no telling where it would lead to.

With a shake of his head, Harry turned to the last door where Hermione was waiting. They pulled it back and Harry nodded. "This is it."

He wasted no time, running into the dark room where a single chair sat in the middle, its back to a dark metal door, the one that Harry had seen in his vision.

"But... Where is he? He should be right here!" Harry cried out as he came to the chair. Sirius had been sitting right there in his vision.

The others remained quiet as they looked around, all of them wondering where they would go now.

"Are you sure, Harry? Could they have moved him?" Hermione asked slowly, although Harry knew she was doubting that Sirius had ever been there.

"They must have." He told them with a determined look, "Voldemort was looking for something. Sirius must have led him somewhere else." Not waiting to hear what they would say in reply he rushed over to the metal door, grabbing the handle and pulling with all his might. But the door wouldn't budge.

"Here, let's all help." Ron said and his friends were suddenly at his side, all of them pulling. The door slowly inched open, getting easier the more they pulled until finally they could see clearly into the next room.

The floors of this room were dark, shiny and reflected their faces as they walked forwards. The ceiling was so high up that they couldn't even see it, just a pitch black sky. There were shelves everywhere, running all along the room in giant aisles, like a stockroom full with glowing paperweights.

Although Harry was quite sure that they were not paperweights.

"What is this place?" Ginny whispered as they stepped further inside, winding through the aisles and staring at the small glowing orbs. As he studied them further Harry realised that each orb had a single name attached to it.

The group split up to look around, keeping within sight of each other so that they wouldn't get lost, the rows of shelves seemed to go on for miles after all.

"Harry!" He stopped at the call from Ron, turning to see his friend pointing upwards at one of the glowing orbs. "That one has your name on it."

Harry sped over to him, reaching up to grab the sphere. As soon as his fingers touched it the glow seemed to get brighter, almost as if it warmed up in his hand. "What is it?"

"Very good, Potter. Now turn around slowly and hand it over." Came a dark but familiar voice behind them. The students all turned, their wands held out and ready, pointing them up at the group of death eaters who were standing in front of them, towering over them with menacing grins. Lucius Malfoy was at the front, holding out his hand as if he actually expected Harry to hand the orb over.

He had no idea what it was, or why it had his name on. But if Voldemort wanted it, then Harry was going to do whatever he could to make sure he didn't get it. There was no way he was about to hand it over.

"Give it to me."

Harry's eyes narrowed, "Where's Sirius?" When no one moved he demanded again, "Where is he? I know you have him here!"

The other death eaters laughed suddenly, and one voice stuck out in the crowd. He'd never heard that laugh before, but it chilled him to his bones. Malfoy stepped back as a woman dressed all in black stepped out from the shadows, a grin playing on her pale features as she pulled down the dark hood that had covered her face. Even without her being a wanted criminal, Harry would have recognised her anywhere. He'd seen her image at Grimmauld Place, on the Black family tree.

"Aw, did the poor baby wake up frightened and think what it dreamed was true?"

He stiffened, willing himself to ignore her. She was lying, she had to be. "Tell me where he is!" He tried again.

The woman laughed, "Oh would you look at that." She directed to her fellow death eaters, "Ordering us around as if he thinks he's any better than us."

"It's time you learnt the difference between dreams and reality, Potter." Malfoy said, taking center stage again. "Now give me the prophecy or we start using wands."

Harry felt a small smile appear on his lips. Half of his brain was telling him he was crazy, but the other half must have been channelling Buffy. "Is that the best threat you can come up with? My granny could have done better."

His friends were staring at him with horror on their faces, but Harry knew what he was doing. Buffy had taught him well after all. He watched in satisfaction as the death eaters' faces fell from joyous expressions to those of anger.

Anger was good, anger changed their judgement and made their moves sloppy, gave way for mistakes...

"Well, what are you waiting for? You want this prophecy? Then come and get it." He called as he pushed his friends back.

Malfoy growled out in frustration but didn't move, and Harry suddenly realised something. Voldemort wanted the prophecy badly, whatever it was, and Harry could easily drop it or smash it if they attacked him. It seemed he had some leverage over them after all.

"What's the matter? Afraid that I'll drop this?" he told them while backing away, trying to get himself and his friends as far away from the death eaters as possible. As much as Buffy had taught him, her first lesson was always to know when to run and when to stay. And right now he knew they didn't have much chance against the death eaters.

"Oh no you don't." The woman growled, "_Accio prophecy!_"

Harry felt the orb begin to slip from his fingers, but he reacted quickly. _"Protego!"_

Bellatrix's spell cancelled out and the orb stayed exactly where it had been, right in Harry's hand.

"Oh, he knows how to play, little bittle baby, Potter." Bellatrix gave Malfoy a bored look, and ignoring his yell she shot forward her wand. The bolt of light soared past Harry's head, his friends instinctively ducking to avoid it as well, but the spell hit one of the shelves and a few glass spheres crashed to the floor around them, covering them with a shower of glass.

"I told you no!" Lucius was yelling at Bellatrix, "We need the prophecy, just wait until after we have it."

Using their moment of distraction Harry turned to his friends and motioned to the shelves surrounding them. "The shelves, knock them down."

They nodded back in understanding, and as one they fired off the best destruction spells they could think of. The shelves collapsed around them and the stunned death eaters, sending hundreds of glowing spheres crashing to the floor, like a tidal wave of glass.

Harry grabbed Ginny by the arm and tugged her away, the others racing after them as they ran. The death eaters had quickly regained their senses and were chasing after them now, firing spells here, there and everywhere.

His heart beating so fast he thought it might give out on him, Harry sped through the aisles, watching in fear as the death eaters' spells missed their targets, instead hitting the shelves and sending more orbs crashing around them.

Harry ran as fast as his feet would take him, but he realised with a start that he was heading for a crossroads. He didn't think, just raced around the nearest corner to his left. The others turned right and all too suddenly he was on his own.

Slowing his footsteps down to a slow jog he paused, looking through the shelves to try and find his way. A sudden shadow moved across his vision and Harry dropped to the floor, using the shelves to cover his position as a death eater walked past on the other side. When he looked up something on the shelf caught his attention.

His eyes wandered away before they snapped back again. The orb on the shelf in front of him had the familiar name of 'Isabella Lupin' written on it. With a gasp he grabbed at it, almost dropping it in surprise as a burst of pain rushed through his palm where the glass had connected with his skin. Obviously he was not meant to touch it when it didn't belong to him.

Using his sleeves, he picked up the orb and dropped it into his pocket.

"There you are. You won't get away this time!" He was startled back into a standing position just in time to see a dark figure approaching him. As soon as the death eater held out his wand, Harry screamed out. "Stupefy!"

The cloaked figure flew backwards, their back thudding into the far wall before their body crumbled to the floor in a heap.

Harry sped off again, skidding around the room and thankfully avoiding running into any death eaters.

He raced around another corner, relief flooding him as he saw his friends running towards him. They all looked tired and terrified, but unharmed. "Let's go." He said gesturing back to the door that they had originally entered through.

"What about Sirius?" Hermione yelled as they ran.

Harry hated himself for it, but he gave her an apologetic look as he turned to her. "I'm beginning to think it was all just a trap."

"You think?" Came Ginny's sarcastic voice beside them.

* * *

They ran until they were forced to stop, having run into a dead end. "We must have taken a wrong turn..." Luna said breathlessly as they stared around the huge cavern. In the middle of the room was a raised platform, and on top stood an archway, a kind of shimmering pattern playing in the middle.

Harry had no idea what it was, but something inside him told him to stay away from it. And he wasn't about to argue with this sudden instinct.

"We should go back, find the right way." Hermione suggested, knowing that the death eaters had been right behind them. They didn't have time to stop and get their breath back.

Harry nodded, and as one the group turned, their steps faltering as they saw the death eaters entering the room, all of them grinning at having finally cornered the kids.

Harry steadied himself, ready to fight, but the death eaters moved so quickly he barely saw them. One second they had been standing in front of him, and the next they were surrounding him and his friends.

One by one his friends were grabbed and dragged backwards, death eaters holding their wands at their captives' throats. Harry stood in the middle of the circle they had created, Malfoy advancing on him with a menacing grin on his face.

"There was really no point in running, Potter. You've only made it easier for us. Now hand over the prophecy and we don't kill your friends."

Harry mentally sighed, he had no choice but to give it to him now...

He could hear his friends struggling, telling him no. Hear Bellatrix as she cackled loudly into Neville's ear. Hear a ringing noise, so faint that he didn't think anyone else would hear it... With a start his eyes darted down to his pocket where he was sure the noise was coming from.

The other prophecy... Like the flash of a bulb, an idea came to him.

He dug into his pocket, trying his best to ignore the pain that ripped through his hand as his fingers gripped the other sphere and pulled it out. He grinned as he saw Malfoys eyes widen, staring from one orb to the other in confusion.

Keeping the names hidden behind his hands, he held out both of the spheres for the death eater to see. "Go ahead and take it then, if you can."

Lucius stared at him uncertainly, his eyes darting between the two prophecies. He didn't know which one was the real one, and obviously didn't trust Harry to give him the right one. "I'm not playing games here, Potter. Give me the true prophecy or we will kill your friends."

He took a second to weigh out his options. If he refused he would be putting his friends' lives in danger, but he knew just as well that he could hand the prophecy over and they'd still be killed, just for the death eaters' sick pleasure. He didn't trust them to keep their word.

Or he could give Malfoy the other prophecy, and hope that it gave them enough time to get free...

It wasn't the most logical of choices, but his gut instinct was telling him something, and he decided to listen to it.

Harry held out his hand in defeat, freely offering up one of the spheres.

Lucius stepped forward, his hand reaching out for the prophecy. He hesitated moments before his fingers would grasp it, sending a quick warning look to Harry, before he eagerly snatched it up. Instantly the burning pain shot through his hand, and with a yelp of surprise he let go, letting the orb fall. Harry watched as it hit the floor, but unlike the others it didn't break.

Malfoy was seething as he kicked the prophecy away, letting it spin over to the other side of the room. "Why you little-"

A faint whoosh of air whipped past them and Malfoys words were interrupted by a familiar and very annoyed voice.

"I'd watch your language if I were you, Lucius. If someone didn't know you they might think you were a child hating jerk. Oh right, you are."

The death eater turned slowly, coming face to face with Buffy, Sirius, Remus, Tonks, Moody and Kingsley.

Lucius began to raise his wand, but Buffy's fist stopped him before he could even utter a word. He stumbled back, tripping over the raised platform in the room and falling to the floor.

Instantly the room erupted into chaos. The death eaters growled as they threw the students to the ground, all but forgetting them in their haste to get to their real enemies.

The Order members split up, moving faster than Harry's eyes could keep up with. Shots of coloured light were flying everywhere, and Harry had to duck to keep himself from being hit.

A hand grabbed him by the shoulder and he looked up at Sirius, who was trying to usher him into the middle of the room. "Get down, make sure you keep that thing safe."

He nodded as he crouched down, cradling the prophecy in his hands as he looked around for his friends. He saw Hermione crawling towards him and grabbed her hand as soon as she was close enough, pulling her up into the middle with him. Sirius had moved away a few steps to deal with another death eater, for the moment leaving the pair of them to help themselves.

Flashes of light filled the room as he dared to look around them. He saw the familiar forms of Ron, Neville, Luna and Ginny in the distance, the four of them crouched down just as he was. They were looking around in panic, but at least they had the sense to stay down and keep out of the fight.

Standing not too far from where they were hiding, he spotted Tonks straight away from her bright blue hair, battling against two death eaters at once. Jets of black and white smoke where soaring through the air, clashing head on as flashes of light flared above.

Something bright caught his attention in the distance, and Harry gasped as he realised it was Buffy's prophecy. It had rolled over to the archway and was lying on its side, the bright glow standing out in the darkness. He ignored Hermione who was telling him to stay with her, and crawled over to it, making sure to use the end of his sleeves as he grabbed it up. He placed it back in his pocket, knowing he couldn't hold onto it for too long.

"Give it to me!"

The sudden growl was accompanied by a jet of red light that barely missed his shoulder. Harry glared up at Lucius, who was stalking towards him, his wand arm held out while his other braced against his head. He was staggering, obviously badly hurt from Buffy's blow earlier.

Harry held out his own wand, _"Expelliarmus!"_

Lucius' wand flew from his hand but that didn't stop the man from advancing, if anything the look in his eyes became even more crazed. Harry took a step backwards as the death eater charged at him, grabbing him by the collar and shaking him violently. Harry cried out as he held the prophecy high above his head, but Lucius' was taller and his outstretched fingers easily snatched the orb from his hand.

With a triumphant yell Lucius stepped back, holding the orb as if it were a trophy, looking to it as if it was the most amazing thing he'd ever set his eyes on.

The look lasted for only seconds, quickly being replaced with a look of fear as Buffy appeared, seemingly from out of nowhere. She barged into the death eater, sending him crashing to the floor and the prophecy flying through the air. Seconds later it hit the ground and shattered into tiny fragments of glass.

"Oh, oops. Sorry, was that important?" Buffy asked in her best sweet, innocent voice.

Faintly Harry could hear a voice echoing around him, a voice that had risen up from the now broken orb, but with all the shouting and noises around him, he hardly heard it at all.

_"...other for neither can live while the other survives..." _

The voice was drowned out by Lucius' yells. "You fools! You don't know what you've done!"

"Oh yeah? Well it looked to me like you were the one who dropped it." Buffy replied easily, grabbing Lucius by the front of his robes and lifting him off his feet. "I don't think Mr. Boss man is going to be too happy about that..."

From the corner of his eyes Harry saw Bellatrix standing at the far end of the room, her eyes were focused on the remains of the prophecy that was now scattered in front of where Harry stood.

"The prophecy!" Bellatrix yelled out in anger, her voice thundering around them as she rushed forwards, her wand pointed out at the nearest person she could see, Buffy.

Harry watched helplessly as Bellatrix called out her spell. A jet of bright red light soared towards the Slayer, who was too occupied with Malfoy to notice that she was seconds away from being hit by a fatal blow.

He opened his mouth to yell for her to move, but a blur of black jumped in front of his vision, knocking Buffy to the ground.

The Slayer hit the floor with a thud, Lucius slipping from her grip and stumbling backwards himself. Instantly Buffy looked up to see what had hit her, her eyes widening as she realised it had been Sirius who had knocked her down.

But he'd not only knocked her out of the way... He'd taken the hit for her. He stumbled backwards, his own eyes wide but somehow looking content.

Buffy was immediately on her feet and reaching out to grab him but she was too late. He fell backwards, slipping right through the strange archway and disappearing from their view.

For a moment Harry was sure time stopped. He waited, but nothing happened. Sirius didn't re-appear on the other side. He was just... gone.

"Sirius?"

Turning his eyes to Buffy he took in her expression, the shock and disbelief that he was sure was mirrored on his own face. A sudden feeling of dread came over him, and in that moment he knew it was all over.

A slow, chuckling laughter filled the now still air and Harry's eyes darted over to Bellatrix, still standing in the dark from where she had fired her spell.

The more she laughed the louder it became until she was almost doubled over cackling to herself, and Harry felt something in him snap like a twig. His gaze became dark, his hands itching to grab for his wand and curse the witch until she felt the same hurt that he felt.

He only managed a single step forwards when he was grabbed from behind, Remus hanging on to him to stop him from advancing on the witch.

"Let me go! She killed him! She killed Sirius!" He struggled, trying desperately to get at Bellatrix, to make her suffer for what she had done. But Remus was not letting him go. The harder he struggled the tighter Remus' grip became.

Bellatrix seemed all the more amused at how angry he was getting, laughing as she yelled out in a sing-song voice. "I killed Sirius Black! I killed Sirius Black!"

A dark growl sounded from behind them, and Harry, and Remus too if his sudden stillness was anything to go by, realised that it really wasn't him that they should be holding back right now.

Before anyone could act to stop her, Buffy had charged forwards, moving so fast she was just a blur to Harry's tear-stained eyes. He briefly registered the look of fear that ran across Bellatrix's face before she turned and ran, the slayer rushing after her.

* * *

She didn't... no, couldn't see anything but the dark form of Bellatrix as the older witch ran through the halls of the Ministry, her heels clicking on the floors with every step. She was laughing, cackling even though Buffy could smell the fear on her.

Her own footsteps were silent as she ran, her only thought being that she had to stop Bellatrix. Had to make her pay for what she had done. Had to make her hurt...

When Bellatrix realised that the slayer was catching her up she spun, her wand held out in front of her.

_"Avada Kedavra!"_

Buffy didn't even blink. She merely changed her route to avoid the jet of green light, her steps never faltering. She jumped, launched herself at Bellatrix as soon as she was within the right distance, sending them both crashing to the ground with a loud thud.

Bellatrix's look of amusement left her face rather quickly, being replaced with a grim determination as she grappled for her wand. Buffy ripped it from her hands as soon as the death eater had pulled it backwards, snapping it like a twig and throwing the now useless remains aside. Her hands then found Bellatrix's neck and slammed the woman's head backwards into the hard, shiny floor.

Bellatrix winced through the pain, laughing quietly to herself but soon erupting into a fit of manic chuckles. "You won't kill me, slayer. You're not a murderer." She choked out.

"Maybe I'm not." Buffy replied darkly, "Guess I'll just have to deal with beating you senseless." Her fist smashed into Bellatrix's face. When the gasping witch turned back she had blood running down from her nose and mouth, she looked as if she was struggling to breath too. Buffy only shrugged and hit her again, and again, not caring that Bellatrix's blood was slowly pooling onto the floor. She had to pay!

"Buffy!"

She ignored the familiar voice, too far away for it to even register in her mind anymore. All she could see was Bellatrix, Sirius' murderer. She was evil, and Slayers were born to stop evil. Nothing else mattered right at that moment.

She raised her fist into the air, ready to hit the witch again, but someone grabbed her arm from behind. It wasn't a strong grip, and she would easily be able to pull her arm away and continue her assault on the death eater. She thought about it, but then when she looked up she saw a pair of deep green eyes staring at her in concern and sadness.

Looking down, Buffy realised what she had done to Bellatrix, and all her hate, all that anger drained out of her, leaving the guilt, the sadness, the pain. Her hands felt numb, her heart felt empty.

Silently she slumped backwards, still sitting on the un-moving body underneath her. Her eyes slowly began to let out the tears that were building, although she stayed silent, refusing to break down completely.

"Buffy." She didn't even look up to notice that her brother had now joined them. She felt his hand on her shoulder, squeezing lightly.

When she pulled back her fist and let it drop to her side she was dragged upwards by a pair of strong arms. She was then engulfed in a hug, and she felt her fingers grip tightly onto the jacket Remus was wearing.

Bellatrix was unconscious, and would probably stay that way for a long time to come. Strangely enough, seeing her broken, bruised and bloody didn't make Buffy feel any better.

With her head resting in her brother's shoulder she blinked away the tears that were still falling.

When she pulled her head back she noticed that Harry was watching the pair of them, and he looked just as distressed, just as defeated as she felt. Ignoring that her hands were covered in blood, she grabbed him and dragged him into the hug. He didn't protest or struggle against her, so she figured that he needed it as much as she did.

"How very sentimental."

They froze at the hissing voice that filled the air around them, and they peeled back from one another until they were facing off against Voldemort, Harry standing in between the two adults. Buffy's eyes narrowed, this was all his fault, everything was his fault. She felt her hands curl into fists at her side, her eyes never leaving his crimson gaze.

"I'd advise you to leave now." She said, her voice completely devoid of emotion.

He smirked, "Leave? I came here to collect something. Something I believe you have Harry Potter."

Harry shook his head, "No, I don't. It smashed during the fight, and nobody was around to hear what it said."

"You smashed it?" Voldemort repeated slowly, his eyes darkening. "Months and months of preparation, months of effort... And still my death eaters have let Harry Potter thwart me again."

"What can I say? You just can't get the staff nowadays can you?" Buffy spat.

He looked at her appraisingly, a small smirk playing on his pale lips. "No, I suppose not. Not yet anyway. You will see soon enough, though."

She noticed that Remus was giving her an odd look but she ignored him, silently and conspicuously grabbing her wand. Beside her Harry copied her movements, obviously thinking along the same lines.

"I came all this way for nothing." Voldemort continued on, having missed their silent exchange. "And I see you have beaten my favourite death eater bloody." His eyes roamed over Bellatrix's still form, his expression turning darker with each passing second. "You shall pay for what you have done here, today."

"What _we_ done here today?" Harry cried out.

Voldemort merely looked bored, "I have nothing more to say to you Harry Potter. You have irked me too often, for too long. _Avada Kedavra!_"

They might not have been expecting it just then, but they were certainly ready for some sort of attack. Buffy grabbed Harry by the arm and yanked him towards her, out of the way of the green bolt that flew in between the two siblings, right where Harry had been standing. Instantly Remus stepped over the gap so that the three of them were standing close again.

Voldemort laughed at them. "You think you can stop me from killing the boy?"

Buffy felt her eyes drawn over to the side of the room, only then realising where they were. She had chased Bellatrix all the way back to the Ministry entrance.

And now, standing in one of the fireplaces and looking grim, was Albus Dumbledore. It looked as though he had returned.

"I think _we_ won't need to." She replied, nodding her head to the old headmaster.

Voldemort turned, looking angrier the moment he spotted Dumbledore.

"You made a mistake coming here tonight, Tom. The Aurors are on their way." Dumbledore told him, as calmly as if he was merely taking a stroll on a sunny afternoon.

"By which time I shall be gone, and you will be dead." Voldemort hissed as he sent yet another killing curse, this time directed at Dumbledore. The old wizard didn't even have to move, since the curse was so off target it never would have hit its mark.

The pair began to duel, sending off spells at one another while Buffy, Harry and Remus stood back and watched. Buffy was itching to join in the fight, but knew that she'd probably only get in the way so she decided to leave it to the experts.

She didn't have to worry for too long though, only moments later Tonks, Moody and Kingsley were running around the corner. They looked injured and tired, Tonks was holding onto her side in pain, but they were still up and moving, and that was enough.

Running right behind them was none other than the minister himself, Cornelius Fudge, as well as a group of Ministry workers and Aurors. They stopped dead in their tracks as soon as they took in the sight of the ensuing battle.

Voldemort must have sensed his time was up as he sprung forward, grabbing the unconscious Bellatrix by the arm before disappearing in a flash.

The room fell into a deep silence, one that no one wanted to break.


	38. The Prophecy

**THE RETURN**

**Disclaimer:** All Btvs and HP characters belong to their respective owners and as always I'm not making any profit from this fic.

* * *

Chapter 38: The Prophecy

The clouds were grey and jagged, the sky dark as the rain fell down in torrents around them. It seemed to Buffy that the skies themselves were angry, as if they waned nothing more than to wash away everything that had happened.

All of them were very much aware that they could have stepped inside, into the warm, dry castle that stood just a while away from them. But no one moved.

Instead they stared upwards at the view of the castle, the same view that Sirius had always loved during his time at Hogwarts.

Harry was standing at the front of the group, surrounded by his friends who were silently holding each other, their arms twisted around each others shoulders.

Remus and Tonks were standing together, the younger witch with her head buried in his jacket, unable to even look up at the scenery around them.

Alastor stood off to the side, gazing upwards, deep in thought. Kingsley stood with Dumbledore, his eyes closed in silent prayer.

And the Weasley family, with the exception of Ron who was standing alongside Harry, were huddled together in the middle of the group, some of them crying, some of the staring upwards in thought.

They'd all been standing there for a while, not caring they were getting wet as the rain fell harder around them. And then, once they had all said their silent goodbyes, they began to move away, back to the castle where they could dry off and try to forget everything that had happened. Try to get back to some semblance of a normal life.

Buffy stood alone, watching them as they left, her own legs unwilling to move from their place. She was hidden under a canopy of tree leaves, choosing to keep her distance from the group who had wanted to share a special time and place to mourn their lost friend.

It had been days since Sirius had left them. How many days, she couldn't tell. Sunrises and sunsets had seemed to blend in together until she had lost all concept of time. She hated this. She hated feeling... empty.

Someone stepped up beside her, keeping their distance but being close enough to offer silent comfort. She automatically knew that it would be Severus, everyone else had already been within the group.

She didn't really want to talk to him, she didn't want to talk to anyone right now. She wanted to go home, to _his_ home, and crash onto her bed, to cry into her pillow until everything went away...

"You shouldn't shut everyone out." Severus told her quietly, looking up at the dark skies overhead instead of at her.

She shrugged, her voice coming out raspy and dry. "You'd know a lot about that, wouldn't you?"

He didn't seem offended by her harsh answer, simply turning to face her. "It's not like you to completely shut down, even after everything that's happened in the past..."

He was trying to suggest something she was sure, but she had no idea what and she lacked the enthusiasm to ask. She really didn't care anymore. She ignored him as he continued to stare at her blank, emotionless face.

"You shouldn't let this affect you so much."

Something in her snapped, and she spun to face him, barely resisting the urge to grab him by the collar and slam him into the nearest tree trunk. "No? Then how the hell am I supposed to deal with this?" She yelled, not caring that she was shouting out into the open.

No one else would hear her over the rain anyway.

"How am I supposed to carry on as if nothing has happened? Tell me!" She gave him a rough shove and watched as he stumbled backwards a few steps.

"I'm not saying you have to, Buffy. Just don't do this to yourself. Sirius wouldn't have wanted to see you like this."

"What the hell would you know about him? You hated each other and you probably don't even care that he's gone!" She shook her head as she felt tears begin to fall, saw her vision become blurred and fuzzy at the edges.

Severus turned his face away from her again, staring out into the open. "You're wrong. I do care." His voice was quiet, barely audible, but she still heard him.

He turned back to her, his usually blank face looking saddened. "I do care because I know this is hurting you. But you have to move on. Sirius is de-"

"Don't!" She cried out, giving him her best glare. But the look seemed broken somehow, as if the fire had left her eyes. "Just don't. I don't believe it, I can't believe it."

Severus shook his head at her stubbornness, "He's gone, Buffy. He's not coming back."

"Yes, that's what everyone keeps telling me but he fell through the archway and it-"

"The archway is a mystery. Even the Ministry themselves have no idea what it is, that's why it was locked up." He told her instantly. "Besides, if he had survived he would have come straight back through, and he didn't. You saw that yourself. Just trust us, Buffy. He's gone, and it's time you realised it."

With a sniff she let her head drop down, her arms folding around herself. "I don't want to realise... Because... then this would all be my fault. It would be because of me that he... that he died."

"You were not to blame for what happened." Severus said in reply, starting to sound annoyed with her. He looked back at her, surprise in his eyes as he watched the Slayer slowly lower her body to the ground, sitting on the damp grass and holding her knees to her chest. In that moment she looked more vulnerable than he had ever seen her, even as a child.

"How am I supposed to deal with this? How am I supposed to move on?" She repeated her question from earlier, although this time without the fierce tone. This time she sounded defeated.

He watched as she cried against her legs, seeing the real pain that she held inside, and a sudden realisation came to him. Whether she knew it or not, she had cared about Sirius more than any of them had ever known.

He faltered slightly, before he sighed. "You loved him, didn't you?"

Her eyes snapped up to his, red and puffy from her tears. Her expression told him she was surprised, although he wasn't sure if it was because of what he had said or because it had been him who said it.

He watched her in silence as the rain continued to thunder down around them, and he saw the exact moment when realisation dawned on her.

"I... did..?"

* * *

She had tried, tried to forget it all and pretend as if she wasn't falling to pieces on the inside. For the sake of the others, she'd told herself.

But once the school year had ended and she was back home it suddenly became a lot harder. Every room in the house, every object, every canvas on the walls, reminded her of _him_. So often she stayed in her own room, the only place that she could truly forget because there was nothing there to remind her. Inside her own room she could retreat back inside herself, to that place deep down where nothing mattered anymore.

She'd quickly noticed how the others looked at her in concern every time they passed in the hallways. Every time they saw her, which wasn't very much considering the time she spent locked away in her room, they would ask if she was all right, if she wanted to talk.

To put their minds at ease she slowly began to get back into a pattern of doing things. She started going on patrol again, if only to beat on some unsuspecting vampires, and began helping out around the house now that they were short one pair of hands.

She'd joint the Order in all their meetings, sat in on all their brainstorming and idea gathering sessions even though she'd never spoken, never participated in the discussions. She'd even pasted on a fake smile when they'd read the latest copy of the Daily Prophet and learnt that the Ministry had a new leader, that they were finally accepting the truth.

And despite it all, no matter how hard she tried she couldn't stop the emptiness inside. It was like a black hole, and it just continued to eat away at everything inside her.

When the others from the Order left and she was finally alone again she felt her body slump forwards against the table. Just sitting in the kitchen brought back so many memories that her head felt like it would explode, her eyes suddenly feeling wet from tears.

Her talk with Severus had opened her mind. She really had loved Sirius, but she'd realised it too late and now he was gone. It didn't seem fair somehow to have finally found someone, someone she'd had a real connection to, only to loose them. And the worst part was knowing she'd never be able to tell him any of it.

A sudden hand on her shoulder made her jump, her body spinning around to see Harry standing just beside her chair. She hadn't even realised that he'd still been in the room.

"It'll be okay, we'll get through this, right?" He asked, and she saw a look pass across his face, the same look that she saw in the mirror every morning. He was hurting just as much as she was.

In that moment she knew she had to get her act together. She had to be strong for Harry, for the students that she taught. She had to stand up and carry on fighting instead of sitting there feeling sorry for herself, instead of mourning for someone that she knew would not want her to loose herself like this.

In that moment she made a promise to herself: to keep going, to push down her grief and stand up again, ready to fight. Voldemort was still out there after all, he wasn't wallowing in grief, no he was planning, plotting his revenge no doubt.

She stared up into Harry's deep green eyes, her mind suddenly feeling a lot better, as if the mist inside had faded away, leaving only determination and the will to fight. "Yeah, together."

He nodded in reply as he pulled out a chair and took a seat beside her. Remus and Tonks re-entered the room after saying goodbye to the rest of the Order, and the pair sat down opposite them.

Remus sent his sister a concerned glance, she knew he had been worried about her. "Are you oka-"

"I'm fine." She replied quickly. And for the first time in what felt like months, she had meant it. She gave him a smile, a real smile this time.

He nodded back, apparently happy with her reply, although she knew he would still keep a close eye on her.

"So, what do we do now?"

They all looked at her, mixed expressions on their faces. None of them really had any idea what to say.

"I have something I need to tell you all. I wanted to wait until everyone had left before I mentioned it..." Harry said quietly, wringing his hands nervously.

"What is it?" Buffy asked, hoping that the look she sent him was somewhat encouraging.

"I found something..." Harry replied.

Tonks was smiling at him, "Found what? Where?"

He replied by digging down into his pocket and pulling out a blue, glowing sphere. He dropped it on the table a little too hard, since he was using his sleeves to hold it. "Inside the ministry."

Remus reached out to grab it but Harry quickly stopped him, "It's Buffy's. No one else can hold it without hurting themselves."

"This is one of those prophecy thingies that Voldemort wanted?" Buffy asked as she picked up the orb and rotated it in her hands. Sure enough it had her name written on it.

"Yes, although he didn't seem to want that one. Or maybe he just didn't know about it." Harry replied with a shrug. "I don't know how to open it, but when mine broke I heard part of the prophecy..."

"Huh."

She startled them all out of their seats by smashing her fist, with the orb, into the surface of the table. The glass shattered under her palm, breaking into tiny fragments.

Almost instantly a single and ghostly voice rose up around them, speaking the familiar words that made Buffy cringe.

_"Into each generation one is born. She alone is chosen to fight against the odds, to slay the demons and vampires and protect the world from the spread of darkness... But the blood of the chosen will unleash hell on earth, the dark Master shall rise and the Slayer will die..."_

Buffy looked to her family, all of whom were staring at her in shock and alarm. And it was then she realised, as she looked at Harry, that he'd never known about her being the Slayer before now.

"What? You're the Slayer?" He said, his eyes open wide in surprise.

"Umm, yeah..."

"All this time you've been... But why didn't you tell me?" His eyes suddenly became saddened, and she just knew what he was thinking.

She eagerly shook her head, "No, Harry, it wasn't that I didn't trust you. It's just dangerous... I couldn't risk you getting hurt because you knew about this."

He nodded slowly, "It's okay... I just wish I had known. I suppose you're right though." His eyes dropped to the table and Buffy sighed. She'd been too occupied with her own grief to take any notice of Harry during the past weeks and it was obvious that he had been through just as much during that time.

It had been the way he'd said it that made her think that maybe he just didn't trust his own judgement anymore. She would have to fix that.

She was about to comment but his eyes flew back up to meet hers. "Don't worry, I won't tell anyone. Wait, is that why you had to leave this world? You never did answer that question."

She sent him a small smile, "Yeah, it was. I had a job to do there."

"To slay vampires?" He grinned, looking at her as if she was his new hero. "I want details!"

She couldn't help but smile at his obvious amazement, "Later."

Remus and Tonks were staring at them, both looking stiff and alarmed. "The prophecy, Buffy. Does it mean anything to you?"

"Whoa, don't look at me like that. It doesn't mean anything, it already happened so don't freak out on me now."

Tonks frowned at her, clearly disbelieving her words. "It already happened? How is that possible?"

Buffy sighed, waving her hands around. "Well, when I was in Sunnydale I fought against this mean old vamp called the Master and he killed me." Seeing the bug eyed look on Harry's face she elaborated, "Only for a minute of course, and then I was resuscitated."

Tonks shook her head, "No, I don't mean that. If the prophecy had already been fulfilled then the light would have gone out, there wouldn't have been a prophecy inside the ball."

"So it hasn't been fulfilled then?" Remus asked, looking to his sister with fear in his eyes. His mind obviously repeating the part where she was supposed to die.

Buffy stood and paced, shaking her head all the while. "No, this isn't right. This prophecy already happened, I know it did, I was there."

When Tonks looked as though she was about to argue back Buffy interrupted her. "Okay, so say the prophecy hasn't been fulfilled after all, that would mean the Master has to be in this world at this time, which he can't be because I already killed him!"

Remus sighed in frustration, "Voldemort is powerful, Buffy. Is there anyway he could have brought this Master into this world? Brought him back?"

She shrugged helplessly, "I suppose so, but not without going to the other world and finding the Master's remains, which would be pretty hard considering I ground them to dust with a sledgehammer."

She ignored how Harry's eyebrows rose at that, "Wow, you sure have lived an interesting life."

"Don't even start on that." she grumbled as she took a seat again. "Great. This is just great."

Harry sat up straighter then, "Is it possible that the prophecy is referring to someone else?"

When no one answered he continued on, letting his thought train run for as long as it could. "You said yourself, Buffy, the Master that you fought is dead, and even if he could be brought back it would take a lot of effort to find his remains and get them back here into this world in the first place. But you're all forgetting there is another 'Master' already in this world..."

"Voldemort?"

Buffy let her jaw fall open in surprise. "Is that possible? That there could be two prophecies so similar and yet completely different..."

"We're talking about two different worlds here, Buffy. I think just about anything is possible right now." Tonks replied with a small shrug.

Remus sat up straighter suddenly, as if he had just remembered something. "When Voldemort captured you, you said that he kept you alive for a reason. That he needed something from you..."

_"Our guest is not to be harmed, Bellatrix."_

_"I don't see why though, we don't need help from half bloods like you." _

_'The blood of the chosen will unleash hell on earth, the dark Master shall rise and the Slayer will die...'_

"My blood." She sighed, slumping back into her chair. "Why is it always about the blood?"

* * *

The room was silent as the lone death eater worked over his patient. He had been slaving away at her bedside for hours and still there was no change. Her body had been healed, her bruises and cuts faded long ago, but Bellatrix would not wake and nothing, not potions, not spells, would cure whatever it was that held her in her deep slumber.

The death eater's hands were shaking in fear as he tried his last potion, gently tipping the liquid down Bellatrix's lips. He waited, but nothing happened. Sweat began to trickle down his forehead...

"Well?"

The single word was enough to send shivers running down his back. "There is no change, My Lord. She appears to be in a coma, and may not awaken for days, or even months. Perhaps even years if the damage goes deep enough. It is impossible to tell."

"Months? Years?" Came the hissing voice from behind him. "That is not good enough! I need her now, not in a years time, you fool!"

The death eater cringed, mentally preparing himself for the spell he knew was coming. He had failed to please his master.

_"Crucio!"_

The death eater crumpled to the ground, writhing in pain and screaming out. But Voldemort ignored him, not caring if the man was in pain or not. He simply turned his back and faced towards Barty Crouch, who was leaning in the open doorway waiting for his command.

"I want them to pay for this."

He nodded in reply, "Of course, My Lord. What did you have in mind?"

Voldemort looked thoughtful for a moment as he walked over to his throne and seated himself. "I want them to pay for what they have done to Bellatrix, and at the same time, I want the Slayer here, on her knees before me. Loosing her to me would be enough of a punishment to them I suppose."

Barty nodded. "Ah, two birds with one stone and all that..."

"Yes. Now, let's see..." Voldemort tapped his fingers on his chin, willing his mind to form a plan. "The Slayer will not come to us willingly, not unless we have something she wants, something she needs."

Barty stepped away from the wall and stood before his master. "An exchange then? I do have something that belongs to her... Something that I am sure the Ministry would love to get their hands on."

Voldemort's grin was enough of an answer, and Barty nodded, stepping backwards. As he left the room he pulled out a small piece of paper from inside his jacket pocket.

He stared down at the photograph and grinned to himself.

This would be far too easy...


	39. Welcome To The Hellmouth

**THE RETURN**

**Disclaimer:** All Btvs and HP characters belong to their respective owners and as always I'm not making any profit from this fic.

**A/N:** Only one more chapter to come after this but they are both pretty short.

* * *

Chapter 39: Welcome To The Hellmouth

_Where am I? What's going on?_

Am I dead?

He could see nothing but darkness, feel the rush of wind as if he were flying through the sky on a broom, and yet he instinctively knew that he wasn't. He wasn't flying... He was falling.

He remembered fighting, duelling with the death eaters. He'd been both scared and exhilarated at the same time. Happy to be there, fighting the good fight and yet feeling so afraid as he watched the people he loved, his family, risk their lives.

He'd taken a blow not meant for him, but he was glad he had. He supposed this was his journey after death, that he would end up in heaven and meet Lily and James again. See everyone he had lost once more.

But the darkness continued on, until suddenly behind his closed eyelids he saw the first flash of light.

One minute he was falling and the next he had crashed into something solid and painful, the object collapsing under his weight. He had yet to open his eyes but he could feel the bright sunlight around him, feel the warmth of the light. It made a nice change...

There were no sounds other than the soft chirping of birds, and then a small in take of breath, almost like a gasp.

A scream sounded close by, a woman's scream, and he snapped open his eyes, sitting up on the now broken wooden table that he had fallen onto. There was a young woman standing not too far from him, screaming. It wasn't a scream of fear, but of surprise and just as suddenly as it started it stopped, and the girl looked at him with wide, familiar eyes.

She was fair skinned, with long dark hair that was perfectly straight. She was clinging to an old looking book, her mouth hanging open in shock. And for a split second he was sure he had seen her from somewhere before...

He opened his mouth to talk, to try and tell her that he wasn't going to hurt her, that he had no idea where he was or why, but the sudden sound of footsteps announced another woman's presence as she charged into the room.

"Dawn! Dawn, are you oka-" The red headed woman's words stalled when she saw him, and she stopped at the other girls side looking just as shocked.

Sirius could only stare back. "Umm, hi?"


	40. Their Revenge

**THE RETURN**

**Disclaimer:** All Btvs and HP characters belong to their respective owners and as always I'm not making any profit from this fic.

**A/N:** Ahh the last chapter! I'd just like to say thank you to everyone who has been keeping up with this story, well the entire series really, and of course to everyone who has been reviewing and giving me some much needed advice and ideas along the way :).

I have been planning out the next (and final) part of this series and hopefully it won't be too long until I start writing it. Anyway, enough from me. I hope you've all enjoyed this series so far and hopefully I'll be seeing you all again soon!

* * *

Chapter 40: Their Revenge

People greeted him with tight smiles as he walked through the halls of the Ministry Of Magic, his shoes clicking against the hard flooring with every step.

He took the elevator up to the fourth floor, stepping out onto the Department for the Regulation and Control of Magical Creatures before he began walking through the corridors, easily finding the door for the fourth, and most unused division within the department.

From there he found his own office, nodding to the other three members of staff that were sitting at their desks, eagerly scrawling away on pieces of parchment or reading from great tomes that covered the entire space around them.

As he sat down his chair spun slightly until his legs fit perfectly under the desk in front of him. He took a sip of his mug of tea and began the long and arduous task of sorting through the various papers that were scattered on the desk.

Some of them were reports of various Council dealings while others were unneeded files about staff members, a list of important dates and a calendar.

He moved all the files into the right piles, and turned to find a large brown envelope sitting on the desk. It had been hidden underneath all the papers.

He picked it up in curiosity and turned it over. There was no address on it, no name or seal. With a shrug he pulled out the string and unwound it until the envelope opened.

He held it up and a blue paper folder fell out, hitting the desk with a soft slapping noise. He chanced a glance around him but the other Council operatives were too busy with their own work to pay him any attention.

Cautiously he flipped over the edge of the folder and peered inside. He pulled out a newspaper clipping and a small photograph.

The photograph looked like an ordinary family photo. The people in it were all smiling, their faces moved as they laughed together. The young boy at the front was unmistakable, it was Harry Potter. The man at his side was also familiar, he was Sirius Black, the man who had been wrongly accused of murder all those years ago. The other man and the woman were not well known, at least not to his memory.

With a confused glance he switched his attention to the newspaper clipping, his eyes instantly taking in the headline.

"Mysterious disappearance at Hogwarts."

His eyes read the rest of the article. It was about a young girl called Isabella Lupin who had vanished off the face of the earth. He vaguely remembered hearing about that a long time ago. The girl had been a potential so an Auror had been sent out to destroy her before she could be called. But her disappearance had stopped it all. The Council hadn't cared much about her whereabouts, only that the girl was gone. And after months of searching for her, she had been declared as dead. Under the article was a small, school photo of the girl. She was young with blonde hair and a brilliant, bright smile.

He sighed in wonder. Why would anyone send this to him? And what was with that photograph?

It was then that his eyes focused on the young woman in the image. She had long blonde hair and a brilliant, bright smile. So similar in face shape and looks to the girl in the article.

With his heart pounding faster with this new realisation, he flipped over the image and stared at the written names on the back.

_'Sirius Black, Harry Potter, Buffy Summers (Isabella Lupin) & Remus Lupin'._

He let the photograph and the article fall to his desk, his fingers suddenly feeling numb.

There was no mistaking it, it was the same girl in both images.

She was back. The Slayer was back.


End file.
